Page 7 of Bound in Blood

Yeah, she does. I wouldn’t put it past Giorgios to pull a stunt like that either. It would be so much easier for him to only have one of us with Ophelia. Unlike our girl, we’re dispensable to him. But it doesn’t matter if I trust him. Right now, he looks like our best option for keeping Ophelia from Lucian. “You and Kai go ahead then, and I’ll wait with Ophelia.”

Malachi glares at me. “Why do you get to wait with Ophelia?”

“Because I said it first, numbnuts.”

“Boys.” Ophelia shakes her head. “We’ll be apart for like a minute. I believe the actual teleportation takes a matter of seconds.”

“It’s as good an idea as any,” Axl says. “None of us want to be apart from each other, but we also don’t want to be torn to shreds. So let’s just suck it up and make the best of it.”

“And once we get to Giorgios’s fortress, we start working on bringing Alexandros back.” Ophelia’s eyes are alight with hope. A hope I cannot bring myself to dash despite being painfully aware that people cannot be brought back. If it were possible, Alexandros would have brought his mom and his wife and kids back. Some clever fuck would have brought the elementai back. But they didn’t.

“I will be backfor you both before you have time to notice we are gone,” Giorgios says.

He clasps Axl’s and Malachi’s hands in his. “Are you both ready?”

They cast a final look at Ophelia and me before nodding. Before we can say another word, they disappear into nothing. No puff of smoke, no crack in the air. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t nothing. It wasn’t three people disappearing without a trace. I stare at the spot on the ground where their feet just were and pray to all the demons in hell that they got there safely.

“What now?” Cadence breaks the eerie silence.

“Giorgios will be back in a moment and then…” Enora sniffs and wipes her cheeks with the backs of her hands.

Ophelia lets go of my hand and launches herself at the two women. “I’m going to miss you both so much. Can you saygoodbye to Sienna for me? Tell her I’m sorry I didn’t have time to…” She sniffs.

The three of them embrace. “We will tell her. And I will miss you too, sweet child,” Enora says, while Cadence sobs quietly. The professor looks at me over Ophelia’s shoulder. “You will take care of her, yes?”

I nod. “With everything I have.”

She blinks away another tear and buries her face in Ophelia’s neck. In all my years at this university, I’ve never seen such an overt display of emotion from Professor Green. But then, Ophelia has a habit of bringing out people’s sentimental side.

Giorgios’s voice cuts through my thoughts. “We must leave.”

“You’re back already?” Ophelia disentangles herself from the two witches.

“I told you it would take but a few moments. I would have been back sooner had Malachi not asked me half a dozen questions as soon as we arrived.”

A smile tugs at the corner of my mouth in spite of all the awful shit that’s happened in the past twelve hours. That sounds exactly like the kind of thing Malachi would do, so I guess they arrived safely, and that’s something.

“And the boys are okay?” Ophelia asks.

With a nod, he holds out his hand and beckons her to him. “Yes, and they are anxious for your arrival.”

Ophelia comes to me first and snakes her slender fingers through mine before she allows Giorgios to take her hand. Only after she has does he take hold of mine too. His palms are smooth and soft, no rough patches like the professor had. A fresh wave of sadness hits me, and I mentally shake it off. Ophelia needs me. I squeeze her fingers in mine.

“Does it hurt?” she whispers to Giorgios.

I look to him, waiting for his answer. Not that I care about me—vampires can feel physical pain, but we experience it muchdifferently than humans. Certainly we have a much higher tolerance.

“I am told it is akin to walking through a little static electricity,” Giorgios replies. “Nothing to be afraid of.”

“You’ll call me, won’t you?” Cadence says, tears dripping from her face onto the winter-brown grass.

“Every day,” my girl replies.

“And you will warn us if you hear any reports of Lucian?” Enora asks.

“Of course,” Giorgios says. “The cell service is very limited; however, we shall remain in regular contact in the coming weeks. But now, the spell please.”

Once again, Enora chants the incantation that allows Giorgios to tap into Ophelia’s power and enhance his own abilities. There’s a strange whooshing in my ears, like I’m being pulled underwater. A second later, my hands are still clasped in Ophelia’s and Giorgios’s, but we’re no longer surrounded by the cool night air of Havenwood. The air in the dimly lit room is warm and heavy with the scent of sandalwood.

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