Blood on Bourbon

8. Blood and Screams

Blood On Bourbon

Chapter 8: Blood and Screams

Erin Scott



The mansion’s air was suffocating, thick with dust and the coppery tang of Mia’s blood. Duncan hoisted her into his arms like she weighed nothing, her limp form cradled against his chest as he started down the grand staircase. Her head lolled, tears dried on her cheeks, and my heart clenched. She was alive, but barely. I moved to follow, my boots scuffing the warped wood, when Calum’s hand snagged my wrist, his grip firm but not bruising. He yanked me back, spinning me to face him. His eyes were wild, pleading, his breath ragged.

“Erin, please tell me you remember,” he said, his voice low and urgent. “Please, my love, doesn’t this jog any memory? Surely you know what will happen to Mia?”

I froze, my pulse hammering. “What the hell are you talking about?” My voice cracked, sharp with confusion. Remember? My love? The words hit me like a slap, strange and intimate, but they stirred nothing—no flicker of recognition, no buried truth. This was getting weirder by the second, and the creeping dread in my gut told me it wasn’t done yet.

Before I could demand answers, a blur of movement streaked behind Calum—tall, thin, and impossibly fast. Pale as death, with long, stringy, white-blond hair whipping around a face split by a jagged scar. A wooden stake wrapped in his hand, and then it wasn’t in his hand—it was buried in Calum’s back. Blood bloomed dark and wet through his shirt as he crumpled to his knees, a guttural howl tearing from his throat.

I screamed, the sound ripping out of me, raw and terrified. The pale man—Laron, Duncan had called him earlier on the camera—laughed, a high, jagged sound that clawed at my nerves. His scar twisted with a grin, making him look half-unhinged, half-monster.

Duncan set Mia down halfway down the stairs, her body slumping against the banister, and then he was a flash of lightning—impossibly fast - at my side in a heartbeat. His presence loomed, solid and unyielding, his breath cool against my neck as he stood too close, always too damn close.

“I see you still control both the boys, Erin!” Laron hissed, his voice dripping with venom, his pale eyes glinting like a snake.

“You know nothing!” Duncan shot back, his tone a growl that vibrated through me. “She isn’t the same, Laron!”

Laron’s laugh was a jagged blade. “All the same to me, boyo, and you know that means she is mine!” He jabbed a bony finger at Mia, who sat motionless, her glazed eyes fixed on nothing.

“Stop, Laron!” Calum snarled, clawing at the stake in his back, blood slicking over his fingers. He was still fighting, still alive, but the pain twisted his face into something feral.

“Oh, Mia,” Laron cooed, his tone playful, sickeningly sweet. “Be a good girl and come here, please.”

“No, Mia, run!” I shouted, my voice desperate, but she didn’t even flinch. Slowly, mechanically, she stood, ascending the stairs like a puppet on strings. She stopped beside Laron, silent, not once glancing my way. Her blood-streaked arm hung limp, her expression blank—empty.

“What have you done to her?” I lunged forward, fury and fear driving me, but Duncan’s arm snaked around my waist again, yanking me back. His grip was iron, effortless, and my body slammed against his.

Laron c****d his head, studying me with twisted amusement. “You really are different now, aren’t you, Erin?” His scarred lip curled, and then he went on, casual as if explaining the weather. “She has my blood in her, silly girl, and hers in me. She’s follow only my orders until she feeds—and by then, she’ll be mine by her own free will.”

I stared at him, blank, my brain stumbling over the words. My blood. Hers in me. Feeds. I looked at Mia—her zombie-like stare, her pale skin. At Calum, snarling on the floor, tugging at the wooden stake like it was nothing more than a splinter. At Duncan, holding me so tight it should’ve hurt, his strength inhuman, his chest heaving against my back. And then at Laron, pale and scarred and grinning like a nightmare.

“What the actual f*****g vampire s**t is this!?” The words exploded out of me, half-scream, half-disbelief. My head spun, the room tilting as reality cracked apart. Vampires? Blood bonds? This wasn’t some gothic romance novel—this was my life, my best friend bleeding out, my body pinned by a man who made my blood burn in ways I couldn’t explain.

Laron’s laugh slithered through the air again. “Oh, you’re delightful. Truly. I almost regret what’s coming.”

“Shut your mouth,” Duncan snapped, his voice a low rumble that vibrated through me. His arm tightened, possessive, and I felt the hard planes of his body against mine—too much, too close. My pulse raced, torn between shoving him off and the insane urge to lean into him.

Calum groaned, dragging himself up, one hand braced on the wall, the other still groping at the stake. Blood pooled beneath him, dark and glistening. “Erin,” he rasped, his eyes locking on mine, pleading again. “You have to… remember.”

“Remember what?” I yelled, my voice breaking. “I don’t know what you’re talking about! I don’t know any of you!”

Laron clapped his hands, a sharp, mocking sound. “This is better than I’d hoped. The great Erin Scott, reduced to a clueless little human. Poetic, really.”

“Enough,” Duncan snarled, stepping forward, dragging me with him. His grip never faltered, and I hated how it steadied me, how my body betrayed me with every brush of his touch. “You’re not taking her, Laron. Not Mia. You've gone far enough, Erin doesn't understand.”

Laron’s grin widened, his scar stretching grotesquely. “Oh, but she will. You'll see, boyo. The night’s young, and I’m feeling… peckish.” He licked his lips, his gaze sliding to Mia, then back to me. “Maybe I’ll have a taste right now.”

A shiver raked down my spine, cold and hot all at once. Duncan’s hand flexed on my waist, a silent promise—or threat—and I couldn’t tell which. Mia swayed beside Laron, her blank stare unblinking, and Calum’s breath grew shallow, his strength fading.

I had to do something. Anything. But my mind was a mess—vampires, blood, a memory I didn’t have, and Duncan’s arm searing into me like a brand. My chest heaved, my hands clenched into fists, and I glared at Laron, at the monster who’d turned my world into this nightmare.

“Try it,” I spat, my voice trembling but defiant. “I dare you.”

Laron’s eyes gleamed, and Duncan’s grip tightened, a warning I felt in my bones. Laron tilted his head slightly, a faint smirk parting his lips to reveal two sharp fangs. Then, accepting my naive dare, he sank his teeth into Mia’s neck and began to drink.