Page 40 of Vows Forged in Blood

She’s lost so much blood…

“Ah gods,” Elias says as he skids to a stop before us. “What the fuck happened?”

“She needs blood. Help me, Elias. Gods, please help me…” I’ve never felt so helpless or so afraid. I can’t lose her. I can’t. I won’t.Please, please, please.

Elias nods and puts a hand on my shoulder, squeezing reassuringly. I slide to my knees, careful to keep Dahlia steady in my arms. Elias tilts Dahlia’s head back and opens her mouth. I bring my right hand to my mouth, slicing my wrist open with myfangs, and hold it over her lips. Blood pours down her throat and she coughs quietly, still unconscious.

“Come on, beauty. Drink,” I urge. I can feel death coming for her and know it will arrive soon if we don’t get enough of my blood in her to heal this injury, to replenish the blood she’s lost. Finally, even unconscious, her body responds as all humans instinctively do: she begins to drink. They know, on some deep, primal level, that a vampire’s blood is life itself, life eternal, and they crave it. Her throat works as she swallows mouthful after mouthful.

“That’s it,” I whisper. “That’s it, love. Come back to me.” I can feel Elias’ eyes on me, but I don’t care. She finally falls limp once more, head lolling to the side, but the blood has stopped flowing from her arm at least. Even vampire blood can only do so much with grievous injuries. She will heal, but it will take time, and she will not escape this day without a scar to remind her.

“Thank the gods,” Elias breathes. I whistle but realize that Xerxes is already trotting to me, worry for Dahlia pulsing from the horse as well. I manage to climb onto the saddle with Dahlia in my arms. I cradle her to my chest, the feeling of it sorightthat my whole body seems to glow with it, before turning to Elias. Without having to ask the question, my lieutenant gives me the answers I need.

“Three dead. Seventeen Revenants dispatched. Two fled the fray when you arrived, but Cyrus is in pursuit. One left alive for questioning.” That’s all I need to know for now. I’ll speak to the others later to get to the bottom of what in the fuck had happened here, but for now, I need to get my mate safely back to our home.

“Get things settled, gather the dead, and have everyone report to the war room in three hours.”

“Of course,” Elias nods. He gives me a long, knowing look, but says nothing else. He simply steps back, slaps Xerxes on the rump, and watches as I carry Dahlia away.

It’s beendays and Dahlia still sleeps. I know that she’s not in any danger from her injury—that is nearly completely healed—but I worry about her mind. What she experienced…well, it would be enough to break any human. I know Dahlia is strong, but there is only so much a person can handle. I’ve checked in regularly, though I would have much preferred to stand a constant vigil at her bedside, and her Keeper assures me she is doing well, that she just needs time. The healer from the village says much the same. I know they are right, but every minute she remains asleep, alone in the darkness, a part of me dies.

I have put off the funeral rites for Isaiah, Kane, and Descartes for now. I believe that Dahlia would want to be there. She counted the men as more than just her guardians—they were her friends. Something about that catches at my heart. Any other Consort in her position would have seen them as nothing more than servants, vampires there to do her bidding. They would have been little more than objects to her. But Dahlia took the time to know them, to joke with them and drink with them and laugh with them. I think that speaks volumes about the kind of person she is and the kind of heart she has. It makes me…feel things for her. More than just mating instincts, but actual feelings that I don’t quite know how to express or explain. Fuck if I have any idea what that means.

I spoke with the remaining members of the guard, and their stories were all the same: the trip to the village was uneventful, no signs of anything amiss; no problems within the village; andthen half way back to the camp, they came upon the tree across the road. I hardly even remembered Xerxes leaping over it in our haste to get to Dahlia, but I recalled it once the men spoke of it.

“We were sorting out how to move it from the road, sir, and they came upon us,” Viktor said as they sat around the war table the evening of the attack.

“There were no signs of them, no scent either, not until they stormed the road,” Malcom added.

“Perhaps they found a lesser wielder to do their bidding? To hide their scent?” Elias suggested.

“Perhaps,” I agreed, rubbing two fingers across my chin absentmindedly as I thought through everything. Full magic wielders had been gone for centuries, but there were those with fading bloodlines that gave them some magical abilities. They could do small things, like help your crops grow or give you luck at the dice tables—or, potentially, hide you in plain sight.

“Did any of them say anything?” I’d asked the group.

“Nothing, sir. Other than the usual ‘I’ll eat your heart’ or ‘fuck you, your rotting whoreson’ that comes with any battle.”

I remembered the female Revenant hissing that I wasn’t supposed to be there. So this attack had been planned for when I would be gone—they hadn’t counted on me riding to find Dahlia. I shuddered at the thought of what would have happened if I hadn’t. But why? The only obvious reason was for Dahlia, but no one knows how important she is to me except Elias…But it is no secret that she is my Consort. A Consort is a sacred title among the vampires in Braxhelm. To have one attacked and killed, especially the Consort of the High General himself…well, it would be a blemish to be sure. It would say to the entire continent and the whole of the Revenant army that I cannot protect what’s mine.

“Rest. Mourn your brothers. We will have rites once Dahlia awakens,” I’d told them.

They all inclined their heads. “Yes, sir,” Viktor said, and then added quietly, “How does she fare? Our Lady Dahlia?”

“She heals,” I’d told him, and he nodded, relief clear in his eyes.They care for her as well, I realized.The friendship extends both ways.Leave it to my mate to charm some of the most fearsome vampires in all of Braxhelm.

They’d all exited the room, leaving Elias and me alone.

“There’s no way…I mean, no one could know…”

“No,” I cut him off. “No one could possibly. I think Kilgren only meant to hurt my Consort, not my…mate,” I said quietly, still unused to saying the word out loud.

“That’s something at least,” he huffed out. “The prisoner is ready for questioning.”

I’d nodded and the two of us journeyed to a cave deep in the east Sister. The Revenant was shackled to the wall, the silver cuffs around her throat and upper arms filling the space with the stench of burning flesh—her missing hands made it hard to shackle her wrists, of course. Those chains were some of the last remaining bits of silver in the entire continent. One day, I hoped to wrap the damned things around Kilgren’s throat myself, to smile as they burned his flesh and rejoice in his screams of agony.

The Revenant lifted her head as we’d entered, baring her black fangs before spitting at my feet.

“I’ll tell you nothing, you leech! Torture me all you wish,” she’d said, defiance written in every line of her dirty, blood-stained face.

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