Blood Bonds (3 page)

Does Dobson know she is here?

The thought sent the smallest lick of fear through Niles Fury. How long would it be before the colonel got word that his visitor was her and not one of the
Chetrah
? The colonel would find a way to keep her here. He would find some reason to trap her down in that lab and take what he wanted from her: blood and bone to finish his science. And all Kin would be dead before the month was out.

Niles Fury thought hard and fast. What were the options? Escape wasn’t going to happen, but if that
Chetrah
Dobson found out Haley was here, then everything he’d tried so hard to protect would be lost. Niles Fury believed in no gods, no magical afterlife, and nothing supernatural. And yet he was driven by the inexplicable need to watch over Haley. He blamed that on his Brother, the source of all his weaknesses. That half of him who borrowed his anger--and no matter how hard Niles Fury resisted--managed to leak his own conscience back in its place.

And the constant trickle of loyalty and ethics being shed down to Niles Fury was a bother.

A regular fucking Jiminy Cricket.

Niles Fury had to get Haley out. He wouldn’t be able to control the knowledge of her presence and his Brother would eventually leak the information to the Queen that owned him. For his Brother, the channels were always open. Niles Fury’s anger kept them clogged full, which was exactly what he needed most of the time.

That way, the Queen couldn’t get to both of them.

His Brother’s bond with the Queen worried him. Niles Fury needed to get around that, so he could warn Haley Night. But the only time the bitch couldn’t hear the thoughts between him and his Brother was when Niles Fury was deep in unconsciousness. A state that superseded sleep and bordered on death.

Just like that, Niles Fury’s mind shifted gears and started planning. He didn’t like the plan but he was helpless to stop it. His compulsion to keep her out of harm’s way was unstoppable. He reworked his ideas of escape and shaped them into a scenario of death.

His.

* * * * * * *

The long stretch of silence started playing on Haley’s nerves like a cat walking across a piano. But the problem was obvious. Niles Fury hadn’t fed. It was unusual for a Kin this old to succumb to isolation and hunger so quickly. But then maybe he’d gone for a while without on the outside.

It was the only logical explanation.

“Niles, did you hear what I asked you? When’s the last time you fed?”

His tongue stroked his lips and a small wicked grin made his ruby eyes fierce.

“Too long.” He moved ever so slightly and the chains protested.

God of Man, how she hated those things.

“I’m sorry about...” Haley looked at the chains and didn’t quite know how to put her feelings into words. “You must really scare them if they feel a need to lock you down like...” “A monster” went unsaid, but then maybe that’s exactly what he wanted: to be feared. A lot of Kin wanted to be seen as predators. Haley didn’t get it, but she’d been Impressed and raised by Humans.

Niles tilted his head ever so slightly. His eyes slid across her face, down her shoulders, lingered at her chest, and were diverted by the table which forced them to her arms, then hands.

Her fingers were a few inches from his. She’d started to reach for him, to give him comfort, but she also didn’t want to send him the wrong signals.

She was, after all, out here on her own. Beyond the confines of the Bureau, there would be less tolerance for normal Kin behavior and a ton of bureaucratic bullshit if she acted inappropriately. Which, for Humans, meant anything touchy-feely or beyond the boundaries of personal space.

It was one of the biggest problems her people had working with man and was a constant Human Resource nightmare.

Even though the son-of-a-bitch sitting in front of Haley was a man-eater, it pained her to see him suffering. Her Human rearing said he deserved it, while her Kin nature argued he’d only been doing what came naturally. A few hundred years was not a lot of time for an entire race to alter a behavior based in biology.

Eat and survive.

And Human flesh and blood just happened to be extremely fulfilling. Like steak and fine wine, only better.

Still, it was wrong. Kin nature also dictated respect for the
Dominant
race. Intelligence had nothing to do with where you sat on the food chain. However, dominance meant the other species had carved out their niche and proven themselves able to fight and win.

Humans and their creative nature had made them a worthy opponent for Kin.

Unfortunately, there were still a few who refused to acknowledge they had been bested by a hairless monkey that had no power to fly, no fire, no metaphysical ties, and the life expectancy comparable to a house fly.

This was getting Haley nowhere. Most Males begged for her touch. There were very few Females to the number of Male Kin, and Females spent the majority of their lives holed up inside the Hive, catered to and protected by their selected Harem. That meant only a small number of Males ever got to
see
a Female, let alone touch.

Screw it. Paperwork be damned.

Haley closed the distance between them and touched his hand. Niles was on fire. His skin burned with metaphysical energy.

Niles Fury blinked again, long and slow, and his chest hitched like he was having trouble breathing. Haley pressed her palm against his fist and he responded by opening his fingers and accepting the touch. His lips curled, flashing bright white teeth that looked a little too jagged. She didn’t pull away. You didn’t offer your touch then reclaim it. It was bad, bad manners. The kind that could get your liver ripped out and handed to you.

Haley slid her fingers to his wrist and pressed her thumb to the pulse beating like a constant drum under his skin. For Humans, it would have been an intimate gesture. But for Kin, it was simply hello-hi-how-are-you-nice-to-meet-you.

Niles came forward and Haley’s hand was swallowed up by his. He cradled her hand like it was a flower and raised it to his face, touched his lips to her palm, and left a wet hot line down the center with his tongue. His mouth opened and he breathed, drawing in her scent from across the skin. Haley could feel the metaphysical surge as it crashed over her, stirring her instincts.

She told them to sit and stay or she was getting out the rolled up newspaper.

A growl rumbled in his chest. “You should leave.” But Niles didn’t let go of her hand. He flashed his teeth again and there wasn’t a Human one left in his mouth. It should have been impossible. Alchemist magic was a powerful force.

Haley said, “If you’ll help me, I’ll be out of your hair in no time.”

Okay, that was a bad choice of words, considering he was doing a good impersonation of Mr. Clean. Haley cleared her throat and waited for him to let her go. Like every other movement it was slow and deliberate, as if he was trying to use limbs he hadn’t gotten used to yet.

“Will you help me?” Haley asked.

Niles dropped his stare to the folder in front of her. She took it as an opportunity and slid it closer. He started slow, his eyes scanning the glossies, then his hand flipped them off to the side.

Haley watched him, feeling unusually sad. Niles’ Human form was beautiful and she was willing to bet his true shape was even more stunning. What a shame he wasted so much potential, so many possibilities to help his race, all over illegal flesh trading. And why do it illegally? God of Man knew there were enough crazies with the Mankind for Kin group willing to donate blood and flesh to feed her people.

Haley had to admit, there was something seriously demented about the idea of Humans tattooing themselves up with the Olde Tongue script reading
Chetrah,
and standing around in the Dens like a walking all-you-can-eat-buffet.

All-you-can-eat until they die that is.

Niles stopped, his eyes lingering on one of the photos. Haley caught the splatters of bright red and high white contrasting dead Human flesh from the corner of her eye.

“How do you live among the
Chetrah
and not crave their flesh?” Niles’ eyes were locked on the photo, his fingers petted the slick surface. He glanced up at her, his ruby eyes burning.

“I just don’t.” It was the truth. Haley didn’t have any of the blood cravings that seemed to affect a lot of Kin. Okay, most Kin. Even her partner and best friend, Farley, dealt with a long standing addiction to the stuff.

However, a Human had raised her.

Although “Raised” wasn’t really the right word, because Kin didn’t begin life as infants. Life for them started as impressionable beings--white-scales--driven by insatiable hunger. The Human woman who took Haley in didn’t fear the unruly beast still pale with hatching skin. She fed Haley the meat and blood her newly hatched body craved, and she
Impressed
Haley with the images she would need to emulate a Human shape.

“The pictures, Niles.”

His eyes narrowed. “My name is Niles Fury. Don’t call me Niles.”

Haley arched an eyebrow. A Kin having two names was unusual. It was respectful to use only the first name, disrespectful to call them only by the second. But a Male insisting on being called by the first and second together? That was downright bizarre.

He went back to the stack of photos, and it was silent except for the sound of pages being turned.

After a moment Niles paused at another and made a disapproving sound in the back of his throat. “I do not understand the fascination with fucking
food
before you eat it.” He turned the photo one way then the next. The scene was nothing more than a collage of bodies and broken furniture. He pushed the stack back towards Haley.

“You haven’t looked at them all.” She stopped him by putting her hand on the folder.

“I never fuck my food before I eat it. I prefer it running. Screaming. Pleading for mercy. None of these bodies are mine. Too much meat left on the bones. Too much blood spilled. I eat what I kill. All. Of. It.”

Haley flinched; she couldn’t help it. Niles grinned, his shoulders flexed, and the heat of his trapped metaphysical energy surged like a south wind. Red scales flashed along his forearms and neck.

That just wasn’t possible.

She flicked her eyes back up at his face. Niles’s smile made her blood cold.

“I’m sorry. Did I offend the pet dragon?”

Yeah, he was sorry all right, just not in the way he fantasized about.

Haley shoved the files back under his hands. That bastard was going to give her something to take to the PD if she had to beat it out of him. Another mountain of HR paperwork, but the satisfaction might be worth a pack or two of Bic pens. He was a Male after all. Nothing special. Nothing she couldn’t handle.

Maybe if Haley kept telling herself that she’d eventually believe it.

She frowned. “Respect the dead.”

Niles slapped the file from the table top, turning the white-washed room into a cheap snow globe.

Haley stood and planted her hands on the table. Chains tightened with a sharp clack and kept Niles from standing to his full height as he met her challenge. Even at half-mast he was big. Really. Big.

Haley pegged him with a glare. “You’re going to die in four days. And that means you have four days to do something with your life that shows the Humans that run this world you have some grain of sympathy for their loss of life.”

“Or what?”

“There is no ‘or what’. It would be the decent thing to do.”

Niles threw back his head and roared in laughter. When he rolled his head back down his blazing stare hit her hard. “And you think I care about
decent
?”

Obviously not.
Out loud she said, “Well, at least it would give your existence some sliver of value. Because as it stands, your life is worth nothing. You’re worth nothing.”

A long low growl trickled from the back of Niles’ throat and he curled his lip.

Haley waved him off. “Save your theatrics. I am not a Human and I am not a lowly Male. There is nothing about you that scares me.”

Niles leaned forward as far as the chains would let him. The metal groaned and the air ignited with the smell of burning magic. “Then you don’t know me well enough, Haley Night.” He opened his mouth wide, flashing too many teeth for a Human mouth. It didn’t last very long; the Alchemy overrode his biology and pushed his metaphysical energies back down.

Haley glared at him. “How can you die knowing you’ve done nothing for your people?” Haley snatched up the photos and reports lucky enough to land on the table.

Niles fell still again and the room was plunged into an eerie silence.

When he spoke, his baritone voice was barely a whisper. “How can you live knowing the
Chetrah
you covet so much are planning the destruction of our people?”

Was he serious? More like delusional.

Haley shook her head. This interview was going nowhere. She had a class at noon full of new trainees for the Civil Peace Division. Unlike Niles, they weren’t a waste of her time. “Your
need
has scrambled that gray matter trapped between your ears.”

Niles snapped at the air in front of her. Haley refused to back away. As far as she was concerned, he was no different than any poorly mannered half-feral Male. Just bigger, older, and more stupid.

She flicked him a look. “You’d think being on such a short leash would instill some decency to quit acting like a dog.”

Overhead, the intercom clicked on and a tinny voice addressed Haley Night with concern for her well-being.

“I’m fine. Just dealing with a few behavioral issues...”

And these were nothing that a session with the Dog Whisperer could straighten out either.

Niles snarled and snaked his neck in a way that suggested he had joints where no Human would. His eyes rolled up at the overhead cameras.

“Good morning, Romero. How’s that hand working out for you? Are you able to beat off in the john again, or is your fuck buddy, Frank-O, still giving you lip service?”

The speaker crackled but the voice didn’t reply.

Haley glared at Niles while she scrounged for a few more pieces of tossed paper.