Bad Blood - Blood Tied, Book 1(#Wattys2015)

N I G H T M A R E_T E N

N I G H T M A R E_T E N

"Answer my question; what are you doing here?" Eleanora was furious, I didn't need an emotional connection with her to figure that out.

"I'm here to give you a warning, my dear."   The man was laid back with his response, unaffected by her anger.

"Eleanora, who is this?"  I felt like I recognized him, but I couldn't place where I saw him before.

"This is Julien Rivas." She sneered as she said his name. "He's the person who made me a vampire."

"It's true," he admitted, "and I saved your life by doing so."

"I never asked you to save me." Her reply was curt and sharp.

"What's this warning you mentioned?" I moved so that I was standing next to her. I wanted a good vantage point just in case he turned out to be an enemy.

"Yes, the warning." He rolled back onto his heels. "I believe I accidentally let slip your revival to Fletcher Whitlock and he is now coming after you."

Eleanora stilled. "You're lying."

"Am I?"

"He was human, so there is no way he can still be alive."

"Right, that little detail.  I forgot you didn't know.  I fixed that a long time ago."

"You...you cannot mean..."  Her voice trembled with an emotion I had a hard time identifying.  Grief or fear, maybe both.

"Yeah, I do. I turned him."

"How dare you!"  She was outraged, but only on the outside.  What I felt was a swirling mix of sadness, horror, and pain.  So much pain.  "You had no right to do that to him!"

"Actually, I did have the right.  Now, are we going inside so I can explain everything, or are we going to continue standing here suspiciously?"

"Your explanations better be good."  She said that more as a threat than a warning.

I unlocked the front door and directed them to the living room, keeping a close eye on Julien. I placed the plate Mom gave me on the nearest kitchen counter and joined Eleanora on the couch.

"You have two minutes," she said when I was seated.

"I'll need more time than that, my dear, in order to get your wizard here up to speed."

"He is not my wizard," she objected.

"I'm not a wizard," I protested at the same time. 

He gave the both of us a disbelieving look.

"Oh, really?  Well, no matter. The clock is ticking, and I still owe Eleanora an explanation."  He leaned back into the armchair.  "The short version is that I'm the droid you're looking for."

Eleanora was completely bewildered.  "What?"

I was trying not to bust a gut from holding back my laughter.

"So you're not that caught up yet. Pity. Let me rephrase that: I am the person who dug you out."

The reason why I recognized the man finally dawned on me and I broke out into a cold sweat. How could I have forgotten?

Obviously sensing my sudden spike in anxiety, she turned her head towards me. "What is it?"

I didn't answer her. Instead, I ran to my room and searched for the jacket I wore last night. It was in the trashcan, there was too much blood on it for me to salvage this jacket, so I tossed it. I'm going to need a new jacket soon if I keep ruining them.