Page 134 of A Trial By Blood

Vesa smiled. It was smug and evil, and I wanted to slap it off his face. “Can you believe I all but forgot you existed?” He shook his head. “Thanks to your dhampir friend reminding me I had a kid, you’re about to make me rich and powerful beyond my wildest dreams.”

I stared him down. It was all I could do, showing how much I hated him and that if given the chance, I was going to tear him to shreds.

We drove to the edge of the city. Then all three males got out and stripped off their shirts. Their wings, leathery and black, unfolded from slits in their backs, and then I was pulled from the car, still bound, hoisted into one of the male’s arms, and we shot into the air.

Neither of the males with Vesa was the one who’d buried me. This guy didn’t have any tattoos, and the other goon Vesa had brought with him only had a couple on his chest. We flew above the forest, going deeper and deeper. I shivered as the freezing air seeped through my clothes. Finally, we reached a tall cliff, and I stiffened when we flew straight for it.

A massive shadow appeared on the cliff face, not an opening. We flew into it, into a cave, and the male holding me landed on his feet smoothly and, not breaking stride, strode ahead. Vesa and his friend followed. Light flickered in the distance. We turned the corner, and the cave opened up, becoming much wider and lit up with torches. There were doors all the way along. People, bat shifters, stopped and stared in shock as I was carried by, but no one tried to stop them or help me. We carried on, turning several corners until we walked into a large, cavernous hall. Long dinner tables and chairs filled most of the room, and along the top of the wall were openings in the stone, covered with glass, that had obviously been dug right through to outside, like windows letting in natural light.

As we walked in, an older male turned, his black eyes coming straight to me. The male carrying me dropped me to my feet and held me still as the older bat shifter strode our way.

As soon as he reached us, he lifted a hand to remove the gag.

Vesa grabbed his wrist. “No, she’s part witch, remember? You remove that in here and she’ll use her magic to escape.”

The other male pulled back his hand, his eyes narrowing. “That won’t be happening. My great granddaughter is far too valuable.” His black gaze slid to Vesa. “If I find out you were purposely keeping her from me—”

This male was my great-grandfather?

“Think about it, Kefir? If I knew she existed, I would’ve brought her to you when you first exiled me. I could’ve used her then.” He gave his grandfather an oily smile. “My daughter could have made me even more powerful than you.” He took in the large room. “But I don’t want what you have, not anymore. I only want what was promised to me.”

“What’s stopping me from taking her and killing you?” Kefir said.

And judging by the look in the older bat’s eyes, that’s exactly what he was contemplating.

The males with Vesa moved quickly, one grabbing me around the chest and pressing a blade to my throat, the other jumping into a combat pose, knife drawn.

“Like I said earlier, if you attempt to take her from me again without giving me my dues, or try to harm me, they’ll slit her throat.” He shrugged. “I want our bargain in blood, and until we’ve both signed, she’ll remain with me.”

The older male’s eyes narrowed. “Take her from you again?”

Vesa motioned to his wounded head. “Don’t feed me your bullshit. We were ambushed earlier. I was knocked out and woke up in the middle of fucking nowhere. Thankfully, she had a hellhound with her, and he got her away from your men. If he hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here to make a deal, I’d be here to slit your wrinkly fucking throat.”

He had no idea I’d been snatched from the ground, carried to a secluded place, and buried alive, and neither, by the looks, did Kefir. What the hell was going on?

“I assure you, you’d know if it’d been me,” Kefir said.

Someone stood on the other side of the room and strode toward us. A male, tall and bare-chested, covered in tattoos. His hair was black and slicked back, and his eyes were as dark as night, glittering as they locked on me.

It was him, the male who snatched me from the forest, who threw me in a box in the ground and left me there to die—I knew it instantly. I recognized the tattoos on his arms. Somehow, he’d disguised what he was. Because he was a bat, I could sense it clearly now. And the way he held himself, the way he walked, I realized he was also the same male I’d seen in my vision, the one who’d killed the guard at the museum.

He strode toward us, the thud of his heavy boots on the stone floor echoing around the room, his hard stare not leaving me once. I tried to step back but couldn’t move with the hold Vesa’s guard had on me. Something shifted in the male’s dark eyes, something I couldn’t read, but it vanished when he stopped beside Kefir.

“I see you found a way to slither back, Ves,” the tall male said.

Vesa looked at the male with pure hatred. “This is where I belong. And you should be thanking me. If I hadn’t found her, this colony would soon be without its king.”

The tall male’s shoulders stiffened, but then he inclined his head. “You’re right. I am grateful, even if it means we must endure your presence once again.”

Vesa’s hand shot out to strike him, but the younger male snatched his wrist out of midair and held it in a grip that caused Vesa to wince. “I’m not a pup anymore, Vesa. Best you remember that.”

The knife was pressed more firmly to my throat instantly.

“Daire,” Kefir barked.

The younger male, Daire, stared down the guard with the knife, chest heaving, but he finally let Vesa go, shoving him away.

“You heard what Vesa said?” Kefir said to him.