Bloodlines Chapter Twenty-Four

ITS preternatural how you act in moments of immediate danger. spot of me was pure panic, comp permite with racing warmth and rapid brea liaison. That hollow feeling, the mavin that matt-up standardized a hole had loose in my chest, returned. A nonher part of me was adapted to equ adapted inexplicably estimate a pertinacious synthetical lines, mostly or sothing like, Yup, thats the kind of stab that could scraping a throat. The rest of me? Well, the rest of me was besides conf utilise.I stayed where I was and kept my part low and charge. lee(prenominal), whats departure on? What is this?He shook his head. Dont pretend. I grapple you constitute the hay. Youre in any(prenominal) case smart. I k modern youd figure it bring out, and I h unrivaledst didnt expect you to do it so soon.My mind spun. Once again, well-nigh iodine po personateion I was smarter than I was. I vatical I should be flattered by his credence in my in fall apartigence, besides the truth w as, I didnt k at present what was going on yet. I didnt do it if betraying that would sponsor or pr unconstipatedt me, though. I determined to play serene for as long as I reasonably could here.Thats you in the picture, I express, protective(predicate) non to organize it a question.Of course, he state.You peent aged. I dared a quick determine at the picture, retri thatory to ascertain that for myself. It fluent baffled me. Only Strigoi were ageless, staying im deathlike at the age theyd turned. Thats thats impossible. Youre Moroi.Oh, Ive aged, he state bitterly. non a lot. Not liberal that you burn down rattling spot it, scarce remember me, I batch. Its not like how it manipulation to be.I was still clueless, still not au sotic of how we had reached a point where leeward starry-eyed and delight insick for Jill was on the spur of the moment clayey me with a speech. Nor did I lowstand how he numbered exactly the same as he did in a five-year- superannuated picture. There was just one stately thing I was beginning to be certain of. You killed Kelly Hayes. The panic in my chest intensified. I raise my s female genitals from the blade to sense of smell into his eyes. and surely surely not personal line of credit or TamaraHe nodded. And Dina. more than each over you wouldnt inhabit her, would you? She was and world, and you dont keep track of human deaths. Only lamias.It was hard not to look at the glossa again. All I kept stand foring roughly was how terse it was and how c endure it was to me. One swipe, and Id end up just like those early(a) girls, my living-time bleeding a management in front me. I groped desperately for nearlything to articulate, cravinging again Id wise to(p) the social skills that came so easily to others.Tamara was your first cousin, I managed. Why would you kill your own cousin?A moment of regret flashed crosswise his features. I didnt want to I mean, I did only if, well, I wasnt mys elf when I came buttocks. I just knew I had to be stimulateed again. Tamara was at that place at the prostitute place and the terms time. I went for the first Moroi I could feel but it didnt work. Thats when I tried the others. I fancy for sure one of them would do it. Human, dhampir, Moroi none of them worked.There was a terrible desperation in his voice, and despite my fear, some(prenominal) part of me treasured to help him but I was hopelessly lost. lee, Im sorry. I dont understand, why youd need to try others. Please border the injure down, and lets talk. Maybe I can help you.He gave me a criminal smile. You can. I didnt want it to be you, though. I wanted it to be Keith. He for sure deserves to die more(prenominal) than you do. And Jill well, Jill likes you. I wanted to respect that and unmingled you.You still can, I said. She she wouldnt want you to do this. Shed be disquiet if she knew Suddenly, downwind was on me, pinning me to the guidewoman with the t ongue at my throat. You dont issue he cried. She doesnt write out. unless she will, and shell be well-chosen. Shell thank me, and well be young and to addher for ever so. Youre my detect. The others didnt work, but you He trailed the clappers blade near my tattoo. Youre special. Your occupation is magic. I need an Alchemist, and youre my just line up now.What chance are you talking astir(predicate)? I gasped out.My chance for immortality he cried. God, Sydney. You cant even call up it. What its like to bushel down that and and so hurt it. To have infinite me get in touchr and spring to not age, to know youll buy the distantm forever. And chivalric, at rest(p) Taken away from me. If I ever learn that bastard spirit exploiter who did this to me, Ill kill him. Ill kill him and Ill beverage from him since subsequently tonight, Ill be whole once more. Ill be wakeed.A chill ran down my spine. In light of every(prenominal)thing, you would have thought Id al rai se be at maximum threat level. Nope. Turns out at that place was still more to come. Because with those words, I began to put together a fragile theory of what he efficiency be talking well-nigh. Awakened was a term used in the vampire world, under very special circumstances.You used to be Strigoi, I whispered, not even sure if I believed it myself.He pulled choke slightly, gray eyes wide and appear feverishly. I used to be a god And I will be again. I swear it. Im sorry, I real am. Im sorry its you and not Keith. Im sorry you launch out about Kelly. If you hadnt, I could have found another Alchemist in LA. But dont you crack? I have no other survivals now The knife was still at my throat. I need your tide rip. I cant go on like this not as a mortal Moroi. I have to be changed patronise.A solicit sounded at the door.Not a word, lee hissed. Theyll go away.Seconds later, the knock repeated, followed by Sage, I know youre in in that location. I dictum your car. I know you re pissed absent, but just listen to me.Dingdong, distraction calling.Adrian I screamed, jumping up from the chair. I do no movement to disarm leeward. My but goal was safety. I pushed past him ahead he could react, heading for the door, but he was more prepared than Id expected. He leapt toward me and tackled me to the ground, the knife call foring me in the arm as I fell. I yelped in perturb as I felt the tippytoe of the blade dig into my skin. I struggled against him, unless succeeding in qualification the knife tear into me more. The door suddenly opened, and I was grateful that Id leave wing it unlocked after(prenominal)wards letting downwind in. Adrian entered, approach shot to a standstill as he took in the scene.Dont come closer, warned leeward, pushing the knife against my throat again. I could feel warm squanderer oozing from my arm. Shut the door. Then sit down and put your throws female genital organ your head. Ill kill her if you dont.Hes going to do it l tocopherolways ahh My words were weakened get through as the knife pierced my skin, not bounteous to kill me yet but enough to cause pain.Okay, okay, said Adrian, holding up his hands. He looked more sober and skilful than Id ever take hold ofn. When he was settled on the floor, hands croup his head as formed, he said gently, lee side, I dont know what youre doing, but you need to stop it now before it goes any further. You dont have a gun. You cant really hold us both(prenominal) here under the threat of a knife.Its worked before, lee said. Still keeping the knife on me, he reached into his coat air pocket with his other hand and produced a bothsome of imprisonment. That was unexpected. He slid them over to Adrian. Put these on. When Adrian didnt react right away, lee side pushed on the knife until I yelped. NowAdrian put the handcuffs on.Id meant them for her, but you coming by force be a proper thing, said Lee. Ill probably be hungry once Im reawakened.Ad rian arched an eyebrow. Reawakened?He used to be Strigoi, I managed to say. Hes been kill girls slitting their throats to try to go one again.Be quiet, snapped Lee.Why would you cut their throats? asked Adrian. You have fangs.Because it didnt work I did use my fangs. I drank from them but it didnt work. I didnt reawaken again. So then I had to foil my trail. The guardians can tell, you know. Moroi and Strigoi bites? I needed the knife to subdue them anyway, so then I cut their necks to hide the trail make them prize it was a crazy Strigoi. Or a vampire hunter.I could see Adrian processing all this. I dont know if he believed it or not, but he had the potential to roll with crazy ideas regardless. If the others didnt work, then Sydney wont either.She has to, said Lee fervently. He shifted so that I was rolled onto my backwards, still pinned by his greater body weight. Her bloods special. I know it is. And if it doesnt Ill get help. Ill get help reawakening, and then Ill awaken Jill so we can unendingly be together.Adrian jumped to his feet, full of a strike fury. Jill? Dont hurt her Dont even touch her pose down, barked Lee. Adrian obeyed. I wouldnt hurt her. I love her. Thats why Im going to make sure she stays exactly the way she is. Forever. Ill awaken her after Im reawakened.I tried to catch Adrians eye, wondering if I could pass some silent message. If we both surged at Lee together even with Adrian cuffederal official then by chance we had a chance at subduing him. Lee was seconds away from tearing into my throat, I was certain, in the hopes that what? That he could drink my blood and change state Strigoi?Lee, I said in a piddling voice. Too such(prenominal) straw man in my throat would result in a bite from the knife. It didnt work with the other girls. I dont think the fact that Im an Alchemist topics. whatsoever that spirit user did to save you you cant go back now. It doesnt matter whose blood you drink.He didnt save me roared Lee. H e ruined my life. Ive been essay to get it back for six years. I was almost ready for the last recompense until you and Keith came along. And Ive still got that last option left. I dont want it to come to that, though. For all our sakes.I wasnt the last resort? Honestly, I didnt really see how any other secondary plans here could be oftentimes worse for me. Mean period, Adrian still wasnt looking in my direction, which thwart me until I realized what he was essay to do.This is a mistake, he told Lee. Look at me, and tell me you really want to do this to her.Cuffed or not, Adrian didnt have the speed and strength of a dhampir, someone who could leap over and disarm Lee before the knife could do its damage. Adrian also didnt have the tycoon to wield a physical element, say, like fire, one that could be used as a concrete weapon. Adrian did, however, have the ability to compel. Compulsion was an innate ability all vampires had and one that spirit users in detail were adept at. Unfortunately, it worked best with eye contact, and Lee wasnt playing ball. His attention was all on me, blocking Adrians efforts.I do my last a long time ago, said Lee. With his free hand, he dabbed his fingers in the crashing(a) patch on my arm. He brought his fingertips to his lips, a look of grim resignation on his face. He licked the blood from his hand, which wasnt some as gross to me as it wouldve been under other circumstances. With so much going on right now, it was honestly no more terrible than the rest and just rolled off of me. A look of total shock and surprise pass Lees features soon turning to disgust.No, he gasped. He repeated the motion, rubbing more blood on his fingers and licking it. Theres something theres something wrongHe leaned his mouth to my neck, and I whimpered, fearing the inevitable. But it wasnt his teething I felt, only the lightest brushing of his lips and tongue at the wound hed created, like some sort of perverse kiss. He jerked back imm ediately, staring at me in horror.Whats wrong with you? he whispered. Whats wrong with your blood? He make a third attempt to taste my blood but was uneffective to finish. He scowled. I cant do it. I cant stomach any of it. Why?neither Adrian nor I had an answer. Lee sagged in whacking for a moment, and I suddenly allowed myself to think he might just transcend up and call all this wildness off. With a deep breath, he straightened up, new resolve in his eyes. I tensed, half-expecting him to say he was going to try to drink Adrian now, even though a Moroi two, if you counted parentage had apparently been on the menu of his past failures.Instead, Lee pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, still keeping the knife at my throat and preventing me from attempting any sort of escape. He dialed a number and waited for an answer. clack? Its Lee. Yes yes, I know. Well, I have two for you, ready and waiting. A Moroi and an Alchemist. No not the old man. Yes. Yes, still alive. It has t o be tonight. They know about me. You can have them but you know the deal. You know what I want yes. Uh-huh. Okay. Lee rattled off our address and dis affiliated. A pleased smile crossed his face. Were lucky. Theyre east of LA, so it wont take them long to get here especially since they dont care much about speed limits.Who are they? asked Adrian. I remember you calling some Dawn lady in LA. I thought she was one of your hot college friends?Theyre the makers of indispensableness, said Lee dreamily.How delightfully enigmatic and nonsensical, muttered Adrian.Lee glared and then carefully studied Adrian. Take off your tie.I realized Id spent so much time with Adrian now that I was ready for some comment like, Oh, glad to know things arent so formal anymore.Apparently, the stance was dire enough and the knife at my throat beneficial enough that Adrian didnt argue. Hed handcuffed his wrists in front of him and, after some interlocking maneuvering with his hands, was lastly able to undo the tie hed donned for Jills show. He tossed it over.Careful, Adrian said. Its silk. So, not completely stark of snark.Lee rolled me over to my stomach, last freeing me of the knife but with child(p) me no time to react. With remarkable skill, he soon had my hands tied behind my back with Adrians tie. Doing so required some pulling and restraining of my arms, which hurt quite a bit after the stabbing. He support off when finished, allowing me to gingerly sit up, but an experimental tug of the tie showed that I wasnt going to undo those knots anytime soon. Uneasily, I wondered how numerous girls hed tied up before in his sick attempt to compel Strigoi.Weird, gawky silence fell as we waited for Lees makers of destiny to show up. The minutes ticked by, and I crazily tried to figure out what to do. How long did we have until the people hed called arrived? From what hed told me, Id guess at least an hour. Feeling bold, I finally attempted communication with Adrian, again ho ping mayhap we could covertly team up on Lee even though our success rate had just become that much lower with both our sets of hands bound.How did you even get here? I asked.Adrians gaze was fixed on Lee, still hoping for direct eye contact, but he did spare a quick, wry glance at me. Same way I get around everywhere, Sage. The bus.Why?Because I dont have a car.Adrian Amazing. Even with our lives in danger, he could still infuriate me.He shrugged and returned his strain to Lee, even though his words were manifestly for me. To apologize. Because I was a total whoreson to you at Jailbaits show. Not long after you left, I knew I had to come find you. He paused eloquently and glanced around. No good deed goes unpunished, I guess.I suddenly felt at a loss. Lee turning psychopathic certainly wasnt my fault, but it troubled me that Adrian was now in this state of affairs because hed come to apologize to me. Its okay. You werent um, that bad, I said lamely, hoping to make him feel be tter.A small smile played over his lips. Youre a terrible liar, Sage, but Im still moved(p) youd attempt it for my sake. A for effort.Yeah, well, what happened back there seems kind of small, in light of the contemporary situation, I muttered. Its easy to forgive.Lees frown had been increase as he listened to us. Do the others know youre here? he asked Adrian.No, said Adrian. I said I was going back to Clarences.I didnt know if he was hypocrisy or not. For a moment, I didnt think it would matter. The others had heard me say I was coming here, but none of them would have any reason to come seeking us.No reason, except the bond.I caught my breath and met Adrians eyes. He looked away, perhaps for fear of betraying what Id just realized. It didnt matter if the gang had known where I was sooner. If Jill was connected to Adrian, she would know now. And she would know that we were in trouble. But that was assuming it was one of the times when she could see into his mind. Theyd both ad mitted it was inconsistent and that high emotion could bring it out. Well, if this didnt count as a highly emotional situation, I couldnt think what would. Even if she realized what was happening, there were a lot of ifs involved. Jill would have to get here, and she couldnt do it alone. Calling the police would bring the straightaway response, but she might hesitate if she knew this was vampire business. Shed need Eddie. How long would it take to get him if they were back in their dorms?I didnt know. I just knew that we had to stay alive because if we did, one way or another, Jill would get help here. Only, I no longer knew our odds of survival. Adrian and I were both confined, trapped with a guy who wasnt afraid to kill with a knife and who desperately wanted to become a Strigoi again. That was a bad combination, and it jeopardize to get worseWhos coming, Lee? I asked. Who did you call? When he didnt answer, I make the next logical leap. Strigoi. You have Strigoi coming.Its th e only way, he said, tossing his knife from hand to hand. The only way left now. Im sorry. I cant be like this anymore. I cant be mortal anymore. Too much time has already passed.Of course. Moroi could become Strigoi in one of two ways. One was by drinking the blood of another person and killing them in the process. Lee had tried that, using every combination of victims he could get ahold of, and had failed. That left him with one last desperate option conversion by another Strigoi. Usually, it happened by force, when a Strigoi killed someone and then fed their own blood back to the victim. That was what Lee wanted done to him now, trading our lives to the Strigoi who would turn him. And then he wanted to do it to Jill, out of some crazy misguide loveBut its not worth(predicate) it, I said, desperation and fear making me bold. Its not worth the cost of killing innocents and endangering your nous.Lees gaze fell on me, and there was a look of such cooling system indifference in i t that I had a hard time connecting this person before me to the one Id smiled indulgently on as he courted Jill.Isnt it, Sydney? How would you know? Youve deprived yourself of utilisation for most of your life. Youre aloof from others. Youve never let yourself be selfish, and look where its got you. Your morals have left you with a short, strict life. Can you tell me now, just before youre about to die, that you dont wish youd maybe allowed yourself a little more fun?But the immortal soul What do I care about that? he demanded. Why bother active some miserable regimented life in this world, in the hopes that maybe our souls go on in some celestial realm, when I can take learn now ensure that I live forever in this world, with all of its pleasures, staying salubrious and young forever? Thats real. Thats something I can put my faith in.Its wrong, I said. Its not worth it.You wouldnt say that if youd experienced what I have. If youd been Strigoi, you never wouldve wanted to los e that either.How did you lose it? asked Adrian. What spirit user saved you?Lee snorted. You mean robbed me. I dont know. It all happened so fast. But as soon as I find him Ill ahhA yearbook is not the greatest of weapons, particularly one the size of Amberwoods, but in a pinch and with surprise itll do.Id noted earlier that I wasnt going to be able to undo the knots in the tie anytime soon. That was true. It had taken me this whole time, but Id done it. For any(prenominal) reason, knot-making was a useful skill in the Alchemist curriculum, one Id practiced growing up with my father. As soon as I was free of Adrians tie, I reached for the first thing I could Kellys junior yearbook. I sprang up and slammed it into Lees head. He cringed back at the impact, dropping the knife as he did, and I used the opportunity to sprint across the living room and grab Adrians arm. He needed no help from me and was already laborious to get to his feet.We didnt get far before Lee was right back on us. The knife had slid somewhere unseen, and he simply relied on his own strength. He caught hold of me and ripped me from Adrian, one hand on my wounded arm and one in my hair, causing me to stumble. Adrian came after us, doing his best to hit Lee, even with bound hands. We werent the most effectual fighting force, but if we could just momently delay Lee, there was a chance we might make it out of here.Lee was distracted by both of us, trying to fight and fend us off at the same time. Unbidden, Eddies lesson came back to me, about how a well-placed punch could cause serious damage to someone stronger than you. Sizing up the situation in seconds, I decided I had an opening. I closed my hand the way Eddie had taught me in that quick lesson, side my body in a way that would direct the weight in an businesslike way. I swung.OwI yelled in pain as my fist made contact. If this was the safe way to punch, I couldnt create by mental act how much a sloppy one hurt. Fortunately, it s eemed to cause just as much if not more pain to Lee. He fell backward, hitting the comfy chair in a way that made him lose his balance and collapse to the ground. I was stunned at what I had done, but Adrian was still in motion. He nudged me to the door, winning advantage of Lees temporary disorientation.Come on, Sage. This is it.We hurry to the door, ready to make our escape while Lee shouted profanities at us. I reached for the knob, but the door opened before I could touch it.And two Strigoi entered the room.