Chapter 43: Forged in Blood: Chapter 41

I spin around, sure I heard Axl’s voice, but the bathroom is empty.

Yeah, let’s go to the diner down by the highway that does the waffles Kai likes. I think Ophelia is gonna need a good breakfast after last night, Xavier says.

I shake my head. The acoustics in this house are so weird. I can hear them as clearly as if they were standing right next to me, but Xavier’s in the kitchen, and I guess Axl must have joined him there.

You did make sure she had plenty to drink, right? We took a lot of her blood.

I smile at Malachi’s concern for me. But … What the hell? Malachi went to check on the pledges. This is impossible. Their voices are in my goddamn head.

Malachi goes on talking to Axl and Xavier, and I shove my fingers in my ears, hoping it will drown out their chatter. But their voices remain as loud as if they were in the room with me. What the hell?

Ophelia? The three of them say at once.

Why are you all in my head? And why can you talk to each other in there?

Why are you in ours, Cupcake?

What in hellfire? How would I know? It’s not like I want to be. What the hell have you done to me? How long have you been able to speak to each other like this?

Always, princess, Axl says. It’s part of our bond.

Your bond? And you didn’t think to warn me of this particular development? Get out of my damn head! I internally shriek the last few words, my hands gripping the basin so that my wobbly knees don’t betray me by letting me fall flat on my ass.

What the fuck’s going on? Malachi says, sounding as confused as I am.

Stop talking, Axl orders, and they go silent.

What? Wait! No. Don’t stop talking. Tell me what’s happening. Why are you in my head? Will this go away? Is this some kind of post-orgasm thing?

Silence.

Axl! Xavier!

Silence.

Malachi!

More silence.

I stomp my bare foot on the tile floor and curse at my stupidity when my heel throbs. I know you can all hear me, dammit.

They don’t answer.

I stare at myself in the mirror. I still look exactly the same, but now I have three vampires in my head. At least I had them in my head. It must have just been a glitch. Some freaky post–vampire bite thing. Now all is right with the world again.

It wasn’t a glitch, baby.

Malachi! Xavier and Axl shout in unison, making my head spin.

This is ridiculous. Why am I here arguing when I can go talk to them the old-fashioned way—in person with our mouths. I march down to the kitchen to find Axl and Xavier huddled together in front of the fridge, like coconspirators in an epic prank.

“You want to tell me why I can hear you in my head?”

Xavier tilts his head and grins at me. “Can you though?”

I shake my head. “Well, not right now. But I could. What was that? I thought it was only a one-way thing, like you could read me, but not the other way around. And it was only supposed to be emotions and intentions and stuff, not full-on telepathy. What is happening to me?”

The look Axl and Xavier share has the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end, then Xavier nudges Axl in the ribs, which only serves to ignite my temper further. “Will one of you tell me what the hell is going on?”

“Must you be so infernally loud, Ophelia?” the professor says from behind me

I spin around. “I’ll be quiet if they tell me why I can hear them in my head.”

He glares at me, his jaw ticking. Then he directs his attention to Axl and Xavier. “Is this true?”

Axl and Xavier nod sheepishly.

“Malachi too?” His dark brow furrows in a scowl.

“Yes.” Axl glances at me. “This has never happened to us before either, Ophelia. Usually we can only talk to each other.” He directs his attention back to the professor. “Have you ever known of this happening before?”

Alexandros sinks into the chair at the head of the kitchen table and eyes me suspiciously. “I have, but it ordinarily takes a bond built over many years. Even with the strongest beings, it usually takes months.”

I open and close my mouth like a fish out of water. I have three million questions, and they’re all begging to be asked first. Focus, Ophelia!

“Why has it happened to me? I’m just a human. I don’t have any power.”

Alexandros tilts his head to the side, glowering at me so fiercely that I can feel the heat of his eyes on my skin. I rub my hands over my arms and return his glare. It’s not like I asked for this. “You do have some powers, Ophelia.”

I snort a laugh. “I do not.”

“How else do you explain the fact that you can hear people’s voices in your thoughts? Is that not a power?”

I don’t know how to explain it, but I do know it’s all kinds of freaky. “Isn’t that because they’re vampires though? That’s about them, not me.”

Alexandros shakes his head. “Humans cannot communicate through a blood-sharing bond, no matter how powerful the vampire who bites them. It cannot be done.”

This is all absurd, but I guess I’ll play along. “So now you’re telling me I’m not human?”

He sighs. “Must you be so dramatic?”

“Must you be so casual? Let’s for one second pretend that I believe you. If I’m not human, then what am I?”

His Adam’s apple bobs, and a thick snake of trepidation coils around my heart. Why is he looking at me like that? Axl and Xavier remain unusually quiet, and the tension in the room grows more cloying and uncomfortable with each passing second. “I think you’re some kind of … witch.”

“What?”

He doesn’t repeat himself. Instead, he simply goes on staring at me.

I pace the small width of the kitchen, shaking my head. “I’m a witch? Me? I don’t think so.”

Cupping my chin in his hand, Xavier stops me in my tracks. He tips my head back. “You already know you’re different, Cupcake. Don’t you?”

His deep blue eyes hold me captive, and I must lose all sense of logic and reason because I find myself nodding. I do know. On some level, I must have always known. “But how … what does that even mean? Why don’t I have powers? Other than being able to hear the thoughts of the vampires that bite me. What the hell use is that?”

Alexandros growls, his frustration growing more evident. “Do not underestimate the power of accessing another’s mind, Ophelia.”

How can I underestimate something I don’t understand? “Well, I don’t want it. So tell me, how do I stop it?”

He shakes his head. “You don’t.”

What in hellfire? This can’t be happening to me. Just when I was starting to feel like a normal human being with a normal, happy life—aside from having three vampires infatuated with my blood, obviously—the universe, in all her wisdom, hits me with this. “That can’t be true.”

He glares at me. “It is.”

I place my hands on my hips and glare right back. “So I’m just supposed to go around with these three in my head all the damn time?”

He sighs. “The fact that you can even hear them is an anomaly. Another marker of your unique blood. It’s a problem, but you can learn to block them out.”

Oh, well, this could be good. I like this development. “Like you all did with me earlier?” I direct my question to Axl and Xavier.

Axl nods.

I nod eagerly. Yes, this is good. “So how soon can you teach me?”

The professor flashes me a look of pure disdain. “It doesn’t work like that. It takes time. Your bond is already incredibly strong. It can take some centuries to tune into the thoughts of those they share a bond with. You have done so in a matter of hours.”

I snort. “Like I have centuries to practice.”

Cue more awkward looks between Axl and Xavier. I don’t like that look. What else can they be keeping from me?

The professor’s lip curls in a cruel sneer. “Do you want to tell sweet Ophelia what she got herself into when she allowed you to taste her blood, Axl?”

I glare at Axl, my blood thundering in my veins. My head spins, and I feel faint.

“Sit down, Cupcake.” Xavier pulls out a chair in a rare display of compassion.

I gladly take a seat and retrain the fiercest glare I can muster on Axl. “So?”

“Your bond. Our bond. It’s unbreakable, Ophelia. That’s why you couldn’t stay mad at us after we bit you. Even though you had every right to after what we did. It would be impossible for one of us to live without the other.”

“Agonizingly painful,” the professor says. “But not impossible.”

My head spins faster. “What does that even mean?”

“When a vampire bonds with—” Axl licks his lips and looks like he’s searching for the right words. “Someone like you, it is forever. It’s not something that can be undone.”

“But I’m human. And you’re immortal. So in about sixty years or so, you’re all going to be screwed.”

“Sharing our blood will keep you immortal too, Cupcake,” Xavier says softly.

What now? I shake my head. “I’m not drinking your blood.”

“You don’t have to. We can transfer blood when we bite. A little is all you need.”

I screw my eyes closed. Sometime soon, someone is going to wake me up with a bucket of cold water to the face and tell me this is all a nightmare. I open one eye, but they’re still there, staring at me. “What if I refuse? What if I don’t want to be immortal? I don’t want to be bonded to you forever. I’m only nineteen!”

The professor blows out a heavy sigh and shakes his head. “It’s already done.”

“What do you mean, it’s done. So undo it. I’m undoing it.” I stand but immediately feel woozy, so I sit back down and close my eyes.

“It cannot be undone, Ophelia,” he says. “You made your choice. Now you must live with the consequences.”

Tears stream down my face unbidden. “But I didn’t make a choice—I didn’t know what I was agreeing to.”

Axl drops to his knees at my feet and takes my hands in his. “We didn’t know either, princess.”

I look at the professor. “You did though.”

He pushes back his chair and stands, unaffected by my accusation. “I warned them not to taste you.”

Fury ignites inside my chest. How dare he treat this situation—treat me as inconsequential. White-hot rage clogs my throat, and I barely manage to choke out, “But you didn’t warn me. You lied to me.”

His jaw clenches tight and his eyes bore into mine. “You are not my concern.”

Propelled by my rage, I launch myself out of the chair and stand in front of him, so close I can feel the anger vibrating from him too. The heat from his body warms me through the thin T-shirt I threw on earlier. How can someone so cold radiate such heat? I suck in a rasping breath that makes every cell in my body tremble. My words are stuck once more, but I tip up my chin and stare into his dark eyes, trying to direct everything I’m feeling into my glare. But there are too many emotions to feel, and I can barely focus a single thought. And between the pounding of my heart and the ache between my thighs, I can barely breathe.

It’s as though my body has woken from a long sleep and is finally experiencing what it’s like to be alive. His eyes are so hypnotic. If I stare into them too long, I will fall into their dark abyss, but I can’t stop myself. What is this? More vampire magic?

I hold my breath, and the world stops turning. My head spins. I’m falling.

The professor’s tight grip on my arm snaps me back to reality. “Ophelia!” he gasps.

I suck in a deep, soothing breath, allowing the cool air to fill my burning lungs. No longer held in place by the intensity of his gaze, I look down at where his hands are wrapped around my arms in a bruising grip. Heat radiates from the place where his body touches mine, blooming beneath my skin. My knees tremble.

His tongue darts out over his lips, and I get a glimpse of his fangs. Unconsciously, I tilt my head back, exposing the skin of my throat, and I only realize it when his eyes drop to where my pulse flutters like butterfly wings. A growl reverberates in his chest, and I gasp.

He dips his head, bending enough that his lips graze my ear and his warm breath dances over my skin. “You are not my concern,” he repeats.

I blink back the tears that sting my eyeballs.

He releases my arms, and with a final snarl, he stalks out of the room. I stumble backward, dropping into the chair again, unable to stop the tears racing down my cheeks.

Axl presses my knuckles to his lips. Xavier crouches beside me and tucks my hair behind my ear. “Don’t cry, Cupcake. You’re killing me. Don’t you want to stay with us? We sure as fuck want to keep you.”

I shake my head. At this moment in time, I cannot imagine my life without them in it, but that’s beside the point. “You took away my choice.”

Axl brushes the tears from my cheeks. “We’re sorry, princess.”

I sniff. “Why are you both being so nice to me?”

Xavier chuckles, and Axl gives him a withering look. Redirecting his attention to me, Axl winces but answers my question. “Another side effect of the bond.”

More side effects? Just how much of my life is going to change because of this bond?

“We’re incapable of harming you, Cupcake. And when you hurt, we hurt.”

Well, that’s an unexpected development. Malachi mentioned being incapable of hurting me, but I assumed he only meant physical pain. “So you can’t hurt me?”

Xavier grins. “Well, it depends, I guess.”

My brain is fit to burst with the onslaught of new information and all my unanswered questions. “On?”

“On how you feel about it.”

I shake my head. “Stop being so confusing. What does that even mean?”

Axl sits down beside me and pulls me onto his lap. “It means, princess, that we can hurt you if you want us to.”

“Why would I want that?” I whisper.

“You don’t ever fantasize about having your feisty ass spanked?” Xavier flexes his palm. “Because I think about it all the damn time.”

Pleasure coils in my core, and heat sears between my thighs. They both laugh, and Axl presses his lips to my ear. “Yeah, she does.”

A flush creeps over my cheeks. “Okay, I get it now.”

“Yeah, you’re gonna,” Xavier mutters.

I wipe the tears from my cheeks and melt against Axl’s chest. “It also means we’ll always protect you from harm. You’re ours, princess, just as much as we are yours.”

“You are?” I’ve never fit in anywhere before, and despite my difficulty processing my new reality, I can’t deny that this feeling of belonging, though unfamiliar, is something I’ve always dreamed about. It’s like being wrapped in a warm blanket after spending hours in the cold.

Having never had a family of my own, I always consoled myself with not being able to miss what I never had. But I did miss it. There was always a part of my soul that yearned for connection and acceptance, not just because of the human condition, but because it knew a part of me was missing. A hole that could never be filled.

But now I know, without a doubt, this is what family feels like. This is what home feels like. And these boys are home to me. Perhaps that is simply the magic of the bond speaking, but for now I’m going to bask in the happiness and blissful contentment it offers me.