Page 8 of Shadow Bound

I’m not someone who can normally take the moral high ground, but what is happening tonight is fucked up, even to me.

Before The White Wolf Prophecy was proven to be true, Sterling set out to find a way to genetically engineer babies with multiple species’ DNA. His goal is to pick the strongest traits from each species and implant them into one being. It took him years to figure it out but finally he found a way to create hybrids like myself. I have no idea what the exact number is for all the women he’s taken over the years to create these hybrids, but his death count is miles ahead of mine.

Now that the curse has been broken, species are free to mate with whoever they want as long as the mating bond develops between two people. And that only happens when the pair truly fall in love.

It’s a bunch of lovey-dovey shit that makes my skin crawl.

Nessa has taught us many things, but one lesson of hers that has always rung true to me is love makes you weak. Caring for others makes you vulnerable. It’s a vicious world we are living in and you have to make your armor as strong as possible to survive. Love puts cracks in the armor.

Alexandre is the only crack in my armor I allow.

When creating the hybrid embryos, try as he might, Sterling isn’t always successful with the cross-species DNA, sometimes one set of genes dominates the others. Sometimes the children are born just as one, ordinary species. And sometimes they’re born just plain human. Sterling has no use for human beings. His loathing for the species is acute.

Instead of just tossing away the human babies, he’s figured out a way to make money off them. The babies are auctioned off to people who struggle to conceive their own children. They pay massive amounts of money to be able to take a baby home.

Tonight, we’re in a New York penthouse because two babies are being auctioned off to some desperate and very wealthy people.

Across the room, I see a hooded figure stalk around the room. Alexandre doesn’t have the ability to shadow walk like I do. While I observe from the darkness, he walks amongst the crowd. While he still has some fae attributes like heightened senses and healing, his DNA is mostly vampire. His bloodlust hasn’t always been bad, but over the years it’s grown and taken over—controlling him as much as Sterling does. While I watch the crowd for intruders and disturbances, I also keep an eye on my brother—not for his safety though. No, for everyone else’s. While he’s not the enemy tonight, he’s still a threat. The guests have no idea that while they mingle and wait for the auction to start that a predator circles them.

The slightest scent of blood floats through the air, making my head turn in the direction of the penthouse door. It quickly makes my gums burn as my fangs descend, eager to sink into the nearest vein. I’ve been so focused on the people inside the penthouse, I hadn’t bothered to worry about what was happening outside in the hallway. We have a large team of security that should be watching all the exterior exits—so I shouldn’thaveto worry about it.

It seems I was wrong.

I turn all my senses to outside the door, listening hard. The sound of people fighting fills my ears and the longer I focus on what’s happening out there, the stronger the scent of blood gets.

Smirking to myself that I might actually get to fight tonight, I take a step toward the door, moving through the shadows of the poorly lit space. I barely make it two feet away from the corner I’d been hiding in all night when the shrill sound of a distraught woman’s voice pierces my ears.

A woman in a set of white scrubs sprints down the long hallway into the great room where the auction is being held. Her face is flushed, and her eyes are wide. I recognize her immediately as the woman who’s been put in charge of carrying for the babies being auctioned tonight. She didn’t get the job by simply applying for it, no it was given to her after she was kidnapped by Sterling.

She’s usually quiet, withdrawn even, but as she runs up onto the stage in the middle of the room where the auction will be taking place, I see a fire burning in her eyes. For the first time, I seelifein her. It’s usually sucked out of the women that are taken by Sterling—but hers has returned.

And I’m envious of her. How was she able to find that spark that’s been long beat out of all of us?

“What is wrong with you people?” she screams at the crowd, drawing all the attention to her. People gasp and grow quiet as they look up at her. “Don’t you know where these babies come from? They abduct women off the street and impregnate them! How fucked up in the head are you that you think this is okay?”

I let out a long sigh, shaking my head. I don’t disagree with her, but she really is wasting her time and breath right now. These people don’t give a shit where the children come from. For many of them, this is the least corrupt thing they’ll participate in all week.

Vance comes storming around the corner, his dark eyes full of fury as he takes in the distraught woman. She waves her hands as she continues to yell at the crowd.

“You’re all here because you want children, but I’m someone’s child too!” she hollers. “I have a mother out there that is looking for me and she’ll never find me.”

That sliver of soul I have hurts for her, but the rest of me is really annoyed by how weak she sounds crying for her mommy.

Nessa’s voice floats through my head,‘stop your crying Isabeau, you should understand by now that your mommy doesn’t care. She’s not going to help you—no one is.’I was six when she said those cold words to me.

I watch Vance, waiting to see what his orders will be. His dark eyes dart around the room looking for me. A pointless task given no one can see me when I’m in the shadows. His fists ball in frustration when I don’t instantly reveal myself. His reddening face and flaring nostrils make me smirk. Vance shoots Alexandre a look, silently asking where the hell I am. With an annoyed huff, I step out from the shadows.

Vance instantly meets my gaze and nods his chin in the direction of the woman on the stage. I don’t have to ask for a verbal order, I can see in his eyes that he wants her dead for the disturbance she caused.

With a quick look at my brother across the room, I can see his pale eyes shine with glee knowing he’ll be able to kill tonight. Alex doesn’t view killing as his purpose—his job—like I do. No, he sees it as a fun activity, drawing satisfaction from it.

The part of me that still wants to protect my brother urges me to beat him to the woman. In my twisted mind, I still think if I’m the one to spill the blood and not Alex, I’ll somehow be able to save him. That the good that once filled Alex will return and I’ll get my brother back.

It’s a childish hope, I know.

I shove through the crowd of people, not bothering to be polite about it. I can see Alex doing the same thing. I barely step one foot onto the stage before I see Alexandre’s looming form standing behind the woman. The glint of his fangs catches my attention. He knows better than to reveal them when humans are around.

“You people are going torotin hell for what you allowed to happen here,” the woman yells. She has no idea my brother stands at her back, eager to end her life. “I’m going to enjoy watching each of you burn!”

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