Made By Design (Blood Bound Series Book 2) (41 page)

Fan-freaking-I-need-a-truck-load-of-chocolate-stat-tastic!
I’d prepared for this, but it still rocked me. Now we had no choice but to fall back on Plan B. Except I hadn’t considered the possibility of a security regime that would turn this entire property and every corner into a solid fortress. I caught Marcus’s eye, needing encouragement to speak up and demand that everyone listen, to somehow force them to see that evacuation
was
the best option. But Marcus’s face was stiff, jaw set, telling me to keep my mouth shut.

“What about all our visitors?” Uriel demanded. “What will we tell them? How can we prepare?”

“We won’t tell them anything,” Serafina declared, splaying her hand across the marble table.

Uriel opened her mouth to argue, but Caius spoke over her. “That is right. We cannot tell them anything. Unless we want an uncontrollable backlash of panic on our hands.”

“You cannot mean to keep them in the dark,” Uriel shouted.

“Would you rather have everyone running around like beheaded chickens?” Caius rose with challenge. “Because all-out hysterics is what we will get in that event. Then they will be even more useless if this
vision
does come to fruition.”

“So we tell them nothing?” My mom’s voice, for the very first time, seemed to be questioning as she peered up at Caius.

He regarded her with compassion. “I am sorry, Lamayli. I do believe this is best.” His focus panned over the rest of The Council. “Shall we bring this to a vote?” With murmurs and nods from around the table, Caius asked, “All in favor of doing what we can to prepare, while keeping our knowledge of this possible threat contained? Raise your hand.”

Out of everyone seated around the table, every hand rose along with Caius’s. This included a reluctant hand from my mom. The one person to stay their hand was Uriel.

I was on the verge of screaming that they would all be slaughtered, along with their unknowing visitors if they stayed, but pressure beside me stalled my outburst. “Amelia, you tried.” It was Marcus. I hadn’t even seen him rise from Caius’s side. His hand around my elbow was firm, pulling me away from the once again bickering council. Dorian and Kendrick shadowed behind. “The Council has made its choice. Nothing more you say can change that.”

“But apart from The Council, everyone will be as good as sitting ducks,” I said. “They won’t be able to defend themselves.”

A woman’s commanding voice spoke over the bickering council. Uriel was on her feet, her crimson hair flawless and blue irises flashing silver with emotion. “Then we must have weapons stored all around the hall. Not just for the guards, but enough for every attendee, too. It is the only reasonable thing to do. Those in favor, raise your hands.”

Caius glared at Uriel like he wanted to throttle her, but she lifted her nose indignantly. That was one fearless woman.

“Looks like we might have a fighting chance,” Marcus said.

“Is a fighting chance enough?” I bit my lip and sighed. There was nothing more we could do. It was out of our hands.

“It’ll have to be.” Dorian shrugged, seeming less than convinced.

Leaving Marcus at the entry, we rushed along the lamp-lit path to where Dorian’s Cabriolet waited. With Plan B now in full action, we had heaps to finalize and double check in the next forty-eight hours.

As we reached the car and slowed, Kendrick stepped out of the driver’s side. He sighed with relief, scanning his double who’d stood by me among a council of vampires. “So, did it work?”

The second Kendrick leaned against the car, watching while the one beside me smiled. The smiling Kendrick’s expression contorted. He grimaced and growled, tiny cracks splintering and remolding his face into one I knew. One I wished I could somehow never have to set eyes on again. The silver in his eyes remained, but grew dull and gray. The unlined plains of his smooth face wrinkled. An aging process on fast-forward. He shrunk half a foot, and when he spoke his voice was one that I knew as well as my own. “You tell me, my dear.”

I cringed at the sight and that deep, calculating voice. Seeing a perfect mirror image of Caius right before us was uncanny. “It’s flawless.” I had to stop myself from touching his face to see if it was real, and from slapping it at the same time.

Dorian took a step closer to his ex-uncles likeness. “No kidding. I can’t believe it worked.”

The person standing before us warped again, flesh smoothing, height growing, hair darkening, and eyes rippling a magnificent gold. “Told you it would,” Troy said. His voice was cocky but his expression was shadowed by exhaustion. “Just remember this truce is temporary.”

“Wouldn’t forget it. But will your fingerprints work?” Kendrick remained rooted in his slouched spot against the car.

It was a valid question. Because to get into the prison cells, Marcus had warned us that we’d need royal prints.

Troy arched his eyebrows. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see, leech.”

~

When I awoke to chirping birdsong and rustling, wind swept trees, I knew two things for sure. One, I was locked inside a dreamscape in which I held no power or control. In the past, such a notion could have filled me with apprehension. But not now. Not with everything I knew. Then there was point two. This dreamscape was conjured by Ty, someone I wholeheartedly trusted without question. The one person I didn’t need or want protective powers to interfere with.

Sensing warmth and the swirl of his unmistakable scent billowing behind me, I spun. My fingers twitched, desperate to touch his chest, his face, and his lips. But the static was already dancing across my skin. I locked my hands behind my back. “Ty.” I scoured his body. “Did they hurt you?”

Ty came closer, leaving an inch between our bodies. The streaming sunlight through the trees painted his skin an iridescent bronze. “They can batter me black and blue, but as long as your heart still beats for mine, they can never break my spirit.”

I gulped, dreading what was to come. “Show me what they did.”

Ty’s chin bunched with set teeth. “No.”

I made a sound between a mock laugh and a sigh. Through it all, Ty was still trying to protect me. Did he think I wasn’t strong enough to see the truth? “Fine, don’t. I’ll see it for myself tomorrow.”

Ty caught my wrist, his irises rippling alarm. “What are you talking about?”

Static bolted from my wrist. Ty grimaced but held tight.

I shrugged, focus shifting to the bird whistling above our heads. I needed to pick my words carefully. Evacuation or not, we would be busting Ty out. And I knew Ty would argue more, but he had to know the damned were coming.

With rehearsed words, I laid out my vision, every detail, excluding Ty’s head to head with Caius. My hope was that when push came to shove he’d leave. But if I told him he’d have a chance to take down my enemy, I knew he’d never pass that up. Then I said simply, “So we’re busting you out.”

Ty’s grip around my wrist hardened. “No. You’re not. It’s too dangerous. You need to run. Take off. Go into hiding. I couldn’t live with myself if—” His words broke off with a sharp inhale as a stronger surge of static streamed from my wrist and into his hand.

“If they killed me too?” Ty’s dark expression said everything I needed to know. He knew he would be executed tomorrow. And he planned to let it happen without a fight? Why? Just to keep me safe? I tore my electric wrist free and planted both hands on my hips. “You expect me to stand by while you’re slaughtered!”

The battle would take place tomorrow night, but I didn’t know if that was after or before Ty’s planned execution. Him being present in the vision proved one thing to me. We had to get him out. And we would. If we didn’t, this may be the first time my vision was altered, leaving Ty executed and the damned still to paint the hall with buckets of blood.

I lowered my voice to a shaky whisper. “You think I can go on living if I let them kill you?”

Ty’s expression fell with utter defeat. “Of course not. You wouldn’t be the girl who stole my heart if you could.” He peered up with dwindling hope. “I guess there’s nothing I can say to change your mind, then?”

“No.”

A steady sigh whistled through Ty’s lips, and he ruffled his sun-gleaming hair. “Then, you need to see this.” With visible concentration he strained, body becoming statue-still. The sun and wind-blown trees shimmered and flashed, flickering like ghostly visions in a horror movie to reform.

I sucked in my breath. My nose wrinkled at the stink of decay that lifted in the darkness. We were no longer standing in a picturesque forest clearing. Instead, we were locked in a stone walled and iron barricaded cell. Ty stood before me, body lit by flaming torches on the wall between bars.

The sight of him caused an involuntary shudder to undulate down my body. He wasn’t battered or bruised like I expected him to be. Still, it was clear he was far from okay. His wrists were shackled. Chains fell from those cuffs and trailed the ground before rising to anchor points in the stone wall. The chains were twice as thick as the ones that had held me. Twice as thick as the ones the guards had used to haul Ty away. The sight renewed my full-body shudder at recalling my own hell and close brush with death. I forced myself to look more closely at Ty’s restraints. A mixture of repeating symbols had been engraved into each individual link. My gaze dropped to the uneven stone floor. His captors weren’t taking any chances when it came to escape. A second set of shackles trapped his ankles, also bolted to the wall.

My heart felt hollow. Blossoming tears glazed my vision and I reached for his face, restraining myself before I could shock him. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’ll fix this. I’ll get you out.”

Ty nodded past my shoulder at the thick, iron bars. “This is what you need to see.”

Without squinting, I refocused along the dark hall that led from the left of Ty’s cell. Empty cells lined the opposing walls and a door ended the hallway.

With a rattle I felt Ty’s warmth closing in behind me. The heat of his breath brushed against my neck as he spoke. “There’s always one guard straight outside the door at all times. Posts change every four hours. On the dot.”

“Then we only have to incapacitate one guard. That should be easy—”

“No. There’s more,” Ty interrupted, his voice deep and commanding. “Look above the doorway.”

Above the door was a mechanical box. On its face a small red light blinked at me. “Dammit. Video surveillance?”

“Yes,” Ty breathed. His hand squeezed mine then let go before the voltage could reach him. “From what I’ve overheard, there’s a command center. I’m pretty sure it’s manned twenty-four/seven.”

“Okay,” I said with a nod. “What else?”

Ty spun me around to face him, expression set and solemn. “There’s a print register at the door, and I’m guessing at every locked door down to this point. It’s the only way to gain access. So, you know what you’re going to have to do?”

Marcus had already let us in on that little hiccup. I nodded again and half smiled. “A truce has been struck. They’ve already agreed to help.”

“You’re serious?” Ty brows arched. “Great, good. I mean, this could actually work.” He then lifted his shackled wrists up between us. “I need you to remember the symbols.”

I frowned. “Why?”

“They prevent the chains from being broken.” Ty dropped his wrists as if they were weighted by concrete cinder blocks. “I’ve seen the symbols in a book of Vanessa’s. She might have something we can use to break them. Another symbol or something.”

Ty sounded far from certain. But I needed to think positive. I needed to believe that no matter what obstacles were thrown at us, we would find a way to save Ty.

“We’re going there in the afternoon to stock up on weapons and whatever we can use to get you out. I’ll show her the symbols.” I went to lift Ty’s dropped chin with my hand before stopping myself. I sighed. Not being able to touch him killed me. But it was better than hurting him. “Ty, we will find a way to break them. We’ll get out of this, I promise. I won’t let you die.”

I stood by one of Vanessa’s workbenches, checking out all the bubbling potions in multi-sized beakers. As I bent to examine a purple liquid with vapor rising off its surface, my elbow bumped a rack of test tubes. A single drop of red liquid splashed from a tube, burning a small, sizzling hole through the bench top.

I backed away and turned my attention to Dorian across the basement at the weaponry wall. He raised a brand new, one-of-a-kind crossbow to eye level. The weapon was fitted with a removable CO2 cartridge, and rather than taking arrows that needed to be nocked, it took a canister of bolts. It was also covered in alchemist marks that boosted the firing speed to lightning fast. Dorian was a natural, and after practicing all morning with it, the confident look in his flirtatious eyes said so. “Reckon I could sneak this one in?”

Vanessa pursed her lips, looking cheeky. Then she snatched the bow from his grasp and pulled a lever. The cartridge and canister dislodged and the crossbow’s arms folded back, rendering the weapon into a neat, concealable rectangle. With a smile she handed the weapon back. “If you can figure out how to reassemble it, you can keep it.” She picked up and flung a canister of bolts at him. “Oh, and these are better. Silver-coated bolts.”

Not needing any further encouragement, Dorian began to fiddle with the device, all the while giving her cheeky glances.

Kendrick nudged me. “Give them some privacy.”

I
humphed
but couldn’t look away. Watching them in the past I’d suspected something was going on. Now there was no question. So during Dorian’s disappearances and late beach walks, he’d been catching up with Vanessa. The look on his face now stopped the warning brewing on my lips. He was smitten. Still, despite their budding relationship, we had things to do. We still had so many bases to cover, and after spending the day training and practicing to control my voltage, it was almost sundown. At best our time was limited. “Dorian, that’s enough playing. We’re here for a reason.”

“Right,” Vanessa said, back to being all work. “More weapons.” She crossed the room and pressed the silver button that began the loud rattling of chains. Then the eight foot long section of the wall spun on its axis.