BOUND BY BLOOD

CHAPTER 6: FAMILY

The word hung in the air like smoke.

“Cousin.”

Nora’s knees buckled. Damien’s arm shot out and caught her before she hit the concrete. His hand was ice cold against her back. In the backseat of the black SUV, the woman blinked, Tied, Gagged. Eyes wide and terrified.

She had Nora’s face. The same dark hair...The same jaw. The same scar above her left eyebrow from when Nora was nine and fell off a bike but older maybe 30. Selene stepped aside, gesturing to the SUV like she was showing off a prize. “Meet Anya Virelli. Last known bloodline carrier besides you. The Council dug her out of hiding this morning.”

“Let her go,” Damien said. His voice was low. Dead. The red in his eyes had swallowed the black whole. Selene smiled. “Or what? You’ll break another law, Lord Virelli? You already have a human and a child in your care. The Council will love that.”

Lucien had the car door open, gun in hand. “My lord, we’re outnumbered. We need to move.”

Behind them, sirens. But not police. Hospital security was running toward the garage, stopping dead when they saw the Hunters with weapons.

Ethan whimpered in Damien’s arms. The tubes had come loose during the run. Blood was seeping from the IV site. Nora snapped out of it. “Baby. Baby, look at me.” She touched Ethan’s cheek. “Stay with me.”

“Mommy, that lady looks like you,” Ethan whispered.

Nora couldn’t answer because Ethan was right. The woman in the SUV looked like her which meant everything Damien said about Elara’s blood was true.

Damien shifted Ethan into Lucien’s arms. “Get him to the car. Go.”

“And you?” Lucien asked.

“I’m not leaving without them,” Damien said. He didn’t look at Nora. He was staring at Selene... At Anya.

Selene tilted her head. “The Oath protects her from execution, Damien. It doesn’t protect her from custody. She belongs to the Council until her 25th birthday. Bloodline law.”

Nora laughed. It came out broken. “I’m 24. You’ve been watching me for how long?”

“Since you crossed the border,” Selene said sweetly. “Illegal immigrants are so easy to track. Especially when they have golden blood.”

The gold scar on Nora’s wrist pulsed. Like it agreed.

Damien took one step forward. “Final offer. Give me Anya and I won’t turn this garage into a grave.”

Selene’s smile dropped. “You don’t have that power anymore.”

“Don’t I?”

The lights flickered. Once. Twice. Then every bulb in the garage shattered. Darkness, except for the red glow coming from Damien’s eyes. The Hunters raised their weapons and then the ground shook. A wall of black came up from the floor between them. Not smoke. Shadow. It moved like it was alive.

Lucien cursed. “My lord, don’t—”

“Get them out,” Damien ordered. “Now.”

Lucien didn’t argue again. He shoved Ethan into the bulletproof car and grabbed Nora’s arm. “We have to go.”

Nora wrenched away. “The other woman—”

“I’ll get her,” Damien said without looking back. “Trust me.”

That word again...Trust.

Nora hated that she did. She got in the car. Lucien slammed the door and peeled out, tires screaming.

Through the rear window, Nora watched. Damien stood alone in the dark, facing ten Hunters and Selene. The shadows around him were growing, reaching. Then the garage doors slammed shut. and Lucien floored it.

They didn’t talk for ten minutes. Ethan was asleep now, sedated by a panic button Lucien hit in the car. A medic kit was open on the seat. Nora stared at her hands. The gold line was brighter. Like it was feeding on something.

“Where are we going?” she asked finally.

“Safe house,” Lucien said. Eyes on the road. “House Virelli property. Warded. The Council can’t scry it.”

“And Damien?”

Lucien’s jaw ticked. “He’ll come or he won’t. He’s done worse and walked out.” Nora looked down at Ethan. His face was pale. Too pale.

Her phone buzzed. Unknown number.

She almost didn’t answer.

“Hello?”

Static. Then a voice. Female. Tired.

“Nora?”

Nora froze. “Who is this?”

“Anya.” The woman from the SUV. “They’re moving me. I don’t have long. Listen to me. You’re not safe with him.”

Nora’s stomach dropped. “What?”

“Damien didn’t save Elara,” Anya whispered fast. “He made a deal. He gave her up to the Council to save his house that’s why they want you. To finish what he started.”

The car swerved.

“That’s a lie,” Nora said. But her voice shook.

“Check the scar,” Anya said. “Gold means claim. Not protection. He owns you now. And when the Council takes you back, they’ll use you to bring him down.”

The line cut.

Nora dropped the phone.

Lucien glanced at her. “What was that?”

“Nothing,” Nora lied.

But the pull in her chest hurt. Like a string being yanked.

Damien.

The safe house was a brownstone in the old part of the city. No cameras. No neighbors. Wards carved into the doorframe that made Nora’s skin itch. Lucien got Ethan inside and set him up in a back room with a nurse who appeared out of nowhere. Nora stood in the living room, arms crossed. Waiting.

The door opened an hour later.

Damien walked in. Blood on his shirt. Not his. His shoulder wound was worse. Black blood down his arm. He looked at her then at Ethan sleeping then at Lucien.

“Report,” he said.

“Clean exit. No tail. Anya is still with the Council.”

Damien nodded. He walked to Nora. Stopped a foot away.

“You’re okay,” he said. It wasn’t a question.

“Am I?” Nora held up her wrist. The gold line was almost glowing now. “Anya called me.”

Damien went still.

“What did she say?”

“That you gave up Elara,” Nora said quietly. “That you made a deal. That this” she gestured to the scar “ isn’t protection. It’s ownership.”

For a second, nothing.

Then Damien exhaled. Like he’d been holding his breath for 300 years.

“Part of it’s true,” he said.

Nora’s heart stopped.

“I did make a deal,” Damien said. “280 years ago. To save as many of our people as I could. The Council wanted Elara’s blood to open the Vault. I gave them her location.”

The room tilted.

“But I didn’t know they’d kill her,” he continued. Voice rough. “By the time I got there, she was already gone. And I’ve spent every year since trying to undo it.”

Nora shook her head. “You lied.”

“I omitted,” Damien corrected. “Because if I told you, you’d run. And the Council would find you first.”

Nora wanted to scream. She wanted to hit him. Instead she walked to the window. Dawn was breaking. Pink light through the cracks.

“So what now?” she asked. “You own me. The Council wants me. And my son is caught in the middle.”

Damien came up behind her. Not touching but close enough that she could feel the cold off him.

“Now,” he said, “we fight. Because the Oath may tie you to me, but it also ties me to you. And I don’t lose what’s mine. Not again.”

Nora closed her eyes. The pull in her chest was warm. Infuriating.

“Then tell me the truth,” she whispered. “All of it. Starting with Anya.”

Damien was quiet for a long time.

“She’s your cousin,” he said finally. “Elara’s sister’s granddaughter. The last of the line besides you. If the Council gets both of you in one place, they can open the Vault without consent.”

Nora turned. “What’s in the Vault?”

Damien’s eyes met hers. Red. Honest. Terrified.

“The thing that killed Elara.

And the only thing that can kill the Council.”

A knock at the door. Three sharp raps.

Lucien drew his gun. “We’re compromised.”

Damien moved to stand in front of Nora. Shielding her.

“Stay behind me,” he said.

Another knock.

Then a voice. Female. Familiar.

“Nora. It’s me. Open the door.”

Nora frowned. She knew that voice.

She pushed past Damien and opened it.

Standing on the porch, in the dawn light, was the woman from the SUV.

Anya.

Untied. Ungagged. And smiling.

“Took you long enough to figure it out, cousin,” she said.

Behind her, down the street, black SUVs were pulling up. Council crest on the doors.

END OF CHAPTER 6