Blood Ties Bundle: Blood Ties Book One: The Turning / Blood Ties Book Two: Possession / Blood Ties Book Three: Ashes to Ashes / Blood Ties Book Four: All Souls' Night. Jennifer Armintrout
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copters that dipped below the tree line. I stared up at the sky, transfixed by the whirling blades. My heart swelled with a mixture of dread and hope. The hour of salvation had arrived, too late for Ziggy.
Or me, for that matter. Without him, my safety wasn’t assured. I wrapped my arms around Ziggy’s chest and stood, half lifting him. He gasped and a cascade of blood poured over my hands. He wasn’t going to last much longer.
Cyrus shouted frantically to his guards. New screams erupted from the hedge maze, the petrified cries of vampires trapped like foxes in snares, as one by one they realized what was happening. The helicopters’ floodlights snapped on and pure UV rays drenched the lawn in artificial sunlight.
The heat and glare made my skin sizzle, but there wasn’t enough direct exposure to kill me on the shaded porch where we were. Others weren’t so lucky. The few vampires who made it clear of the maze exploded into flame and burned before they could reach the terrace. Only a handful made it to the house, pushing past us and charging through the glass doors.
Long ropes fell from both sides of each helicopter and dark figures dropped onto the lawn.
The assassins had arrived.
Twenty of them slid to the ground, covered in head-to-toe black gear. On their heads they wore black hoods and dark goggles. Leather gloves and boots protected their hands and feet. Not a centimeter of their skin was exposed.
They were impressively efficient. The vampires that didn’t burn quickly enough were staked. A few were decapitated with long, studded knives.
It was gruesome. Headless bodies burst into fire, skin and muscle flaking to embers in the wind generated by the helicopters. For a brief second, all that remained of them was a flash of blue flame where their heart should be, just before their ribs turned to ash and crumbled to the lawn.
Cyrus fled past me, the right side of his face scorched by the lights. “I’ll deal with you later! Run!”
But I couldn’t leave Ziggy to die alone. I struggled backward to the door, dragging him with me, as my sire ran to cowardly safety.
The assassins surged up the lawn in a lethal wave. A thin line of smoke wafted off of the top of the head of one of the assassins. He lifted a walkie-talkie to his face, mumbled into it, and the lights cut off in sync.
I searched the lawn frantically for any sign of Nathan. How would I find him when they were all dressed the same?
One of them pointed in my direction as I gained the door.
“Don’t hurt him!” I screamed, dropping Ziggy to the marble floor of the foyer. I laid across him, wincing at the rattle I heard in his chest. “He’s human! Don’t hurt him!”
Without a word, the killer reached down and lifted Ziggy’s legs before he barked at the others filing into the house. “I want a sweep of the grounds, and the house upstairs and down. Max, Amy, get the ground lights, and for God’s sake, let’s find the Soul Eater! Carrie, get him by the shoulders!”
It was Nathan.
Numb, I grabbed Ziggy under his arms. Seeing the doors were open, I nodded in the direction of the study. It was dark, but my eyes adjusted in time to guide Nathan to the corner farthest from the door. He eased Ziggy to the ground and whipped off his hood to examine the wound.
“It’s pretty bad,” I said softly. “Even if we got him in an ambulance now—”
“Shut up!” Nathan shouted, lifting Ziggy in his arms. “He’s gonna be fine. Aren’t you, kid?”
Ziggy’s head lolled to the side, and he choked on his blood as he struggled to speak. Only two words came out clearly. One was home.
The other was Dad.
“Yeah. We’re going home,” Nathan whispered, smoothing Ziggy’s hair back from his forehead. “Daddy’s got you, and we’re going home.”
I covered my mouth as a sob threatened to tear from my throat. Outside the door, a war waged. No one knew that in this room, a father held his dying son.
No one except us, and the Soul Eater.
I’d forgotten his presence, had even run past his coffin as we’d entered the room without a second thought. Now dread overwhelmed me. My gaze fell on the casket. It was empty, the lid torn off the hinges. “Nathan…”
He would be no help, I realized, as I watched him cradle Ziggy close, half rocking on the hard floor. The sight was too painful. I had to look away.
The Soul Eater was somewhere in the house. Then I remembered the vial of holy water Nathan had given me. I’d tucked it into my bra as I’d dressed for the party. I’d just fished it out when the doorknob rattled. “Nathan!”
He was on his feet beside me, his face expressionless. “Ziggy’s dead.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “Is there anything I can—”
“There’s really not time for that now.” Nathan stepped in front of me. “Whatever comes through that door, run like hell.”
“Excuse me?”
Just then the doors burst open. Cyrus stood in the doorway, rage twisting his burned face.
“I should have known,” he hissed as his one remaining eye moved between Nathan and I.
Nathan strode forward. “Simon Seymour, son of Jacob Seymour, by order of the Voluntary Vampire Extinction Movement, I charge you with the destruction of humans, the creation of new vampires, and the crime of aiding your sire, the Soul Eater, in his own offenses. How do you plead?”
A cruel smile formed on Cyrus’s lips. “I never plead for anything. Certainly not to a whelp like you.”
Nathan stood his ground as Cyrus moved closer. He watched Cyrus warily, as though he were a deadly snake about to strike.
“Dear Nolen. Stupid as ever.”
Nathan clenched his fists. “How do you plead to the charges, Cyrus?”
“Does it matter? I’m unarmed, and no match for you, should you choose to strike me down in my weakened and vulnerable state.” After a deliberate pause, he added, “Like you did your wife.”
Nathan’s body, tensed to the breaking point, snapped into motion. As his hands closed around my sire’s throat, I wanted to kill him. My heart constricted in grief and horror at the thought Nathan might hurt Cyrus.
“Do you think she’ll survive without me?” Cyrus wheezed. “The tie is too strong between us. But that doesn’t matter, does it? You didn’t even save the pathetic human boy.”
“Shut up,” Nathan growled, slamming Cyrus into the wall.
Faintly, through the frantic staccato of my pulse, I heard Cyrus laugh. “You don’t really believe you’ve changed? Just because you’ve killed a few of the bad guys?”
Nathan crushed Cyrus’s head against the wall, and I slumped to the floor, my chest tightening painfully so that I could only take fast, shallow breaths.
When Cyrus spoke, his voice was ragged, but the hate there was unmistakable. “Kill me then, Nolen. It will be worth it to see the satisfaction in your eyes. I’ll die knowing you’re worthy of our sire’s blood.”
Nathan’s hands flexed, squeezing Cyrus’s neck with fury, but Cyrus rallied one last time and shoved Nathan backward, hard. Nathan lost his balance and toppled to the floor. As he pulled himself up, he snarled, “I’m taking her with me.”
Cyrus stepped aside, rubbing his neck as he leaned against the wall. “Fine. You’re welcome to her.”
Before Nathan or I could react, Cyrus lunged forward and grabbed me by the wrist, spinning me into his arms like a dance. “How many pieces would you like to carry her out in? Two?”
He twisted my arm until