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Chapter 2

مؤلف: Belen
Adrian came home at two in the morning, carrying the mingled scent of hospital disinfectant and fresh plasma.

He tiptoed into the bedroom and, seeing the bedside lamp still on, asked softly, "You're still up?"

"Waiting for you."

He took off his coat, sat on the edge of the bed, and reached over to touch my face. "Your eyes are red. Didn't you get all the silver out? I'll take you in for a checkup tomorrow night."

I looked at his face and remembered a stormy night three years ago. Vampire hunters had cut the power to our building, trapping me in an elevator with a silver-plated lock. Adrian had gripped the lock barehanded and wrenched the door open. The silver burned clean through his palm, but the moment the door opened, he'd pulled me tight against him, buried his face in my neck, and said over and over, "You scared me to death. Eve, thank God you're okay."

His fear that night had been real. His deception now was real too. The two didn't contradict each other. He had loved me, and he had also spent over a year treating me like a fool for someone else.

"Adrian, it's been nine times. Tell me, why haven't we ever been able to register our blood bond?"

His eyelashes trembled almost imperceptibly before he smiled again. "Just bad luck. Nothing worth having comes easy. Next time, for sure."

"What if it never works?"

He took my hand, his thumb tracing my knuckles. The gesture was identical to the way he'd comforted Lillian earlier that day. "That won't happen. Eve, I always keep my promises. You're the only woman I'll ever call my wife."

I yanked my hand back, my stomach turning.

The only wife.

But that blood bond certificate had been sitting in his drawer for fifteen months. They had been hiding it from me for fifteen months. Maybe longer.

I thought about last year's winter solstice, when Lillian had come over for a dinner party. She'd poured Adrian a glass of vintage blood wine, and my mother had smiled. "Lillian is so thoughtful. Whoever bonds with her will be a lucky man."

Adrian had raised his glass, his gaze on Lillian. "She's right. Whoever bonds with Lillian will be a lucky man."

I'd thought it was just politeness. Now I realized they had been telling the truth right in front of everyone. I was the only one kept in the dark.

The next evening, I went back to my parents' house and held the photo of the certificate in front of Lillian. "What is this?"

Her face went white. The next second, she dropped to her knees in front of me, kneecaps cracking against the hardwood floor. "Eve, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

My mother rushed out of the kitchen and pulled Lillian to her feet, then whipped around and shouted at me. "Evelyn, you come home and the first thing you do is force her to her knees? What exactly are you trying to do?"

Lillian sobbed so hard she could barely breathe. "Mom, it's my fault. Eve already knows about the blood bond."

My father came out of the other room. When he saw me, there was no surprise on his face. Only reproach.

"Adrian and Lillian have already registered their blood bond. You all knew, didn't you?"

The living room went silent for a few seconds. My mother recovered quickly, her voice righteous. "When Lillian first awakened, she couldn't control her bloodlust. She was so afraid of hurting someone that she walked into the sunlight to end it all. The doctor said she needed a partner strong enough to serve as her blood anchor to survive the most dangerous years. That blood bond was just to stabilize her. Adrian's heart still belongs to you."

Lillian's face was streaked with tears. "Eve, the moment I can control myself, I'll dissolve the bond right away. I never meant to take him from you. Please don't blame Adrian."

"So all of you knew." I looked at the people in front of me, the people who claimed to love me. "You watched me get dressed up for the registry time after time, then watched your staged accidents turn me away. Did you think I looked ridiculous every time I believed you?"

"Evelyn!" My mother raised her voice. "Your sister almost died in the sun. She's unstable, physically and mentally. Can't you show her some compassion for once?"

"I've shown her compassion nine times, and I've shown all of you compassion for fifteen months."

I walked up to Lillian. She lifted her tear-streaked face, waiting for me to soften first, the way I always did. I raised my hand and slapped her across the face.

She was a newly awakened vampire. A slap couldn't hurt her, much less kill her. But my mother still screamed and threw herself over Lillian, shielding her. "Evelyn, have you lost your mind?"

The front door swung open. Adrian stood in the doorway, and the moment he saw Lillian crouched on the floor with her hands over her face, his expression changed.

He rushed forward, shoved me aside, and pulled Lillian into his arms. "Let me see. Did you bite your tongue? Does your chest hurt?"

I stumbled backward into the dining table. A piece of silver sat right at the edge, something my father had stripped from a hunter's trap to turn in to the night patrol. Even through my clothes, it seared my lower back. Adrian didn't steady me. He just fixed me with a cold stare. "She awakened less than two years ago. The slightest emotional disturbance can make her lose control. You know her condition. How can you not have an ounce of sympathy?"
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  • The Ninth Blood Bond   Chapter 10

    That night, Margaret cooked a full spread. Noah uncorked a bottle of vintage blood wine and poured a glass for each of us."To Dr. Hart." Margaret raised her glass. "It's been a hard road, but you made it through."I clinked my glass against hers. The blood wine slid down my throat, bitter at first, with a faint sweetness in the finish. "Thank you. Without you and my grandmother, I wouldn't be here.""Ruth entrusted you to me. All I did was open the door. You're the one who walked through it."Noah ate quietly beside us, glancing up at me now and then. There was no impatience in his eyes, only quiet happiness for me.After dinner, he stayed to help Margaret clean the kitchen. When that was done, we walked out of the clinic, one after the other.The rain had just stopped. The night air was clean and cool. Noah walked on my left, half an arm's length between us. Not too close, not too far. Exactly the distance that put me at ease.After two blocks, he spoke. "Evelyn.""What is it?""Are

  • The Ninth Blood Bond   Chapter 9

    "Congratulations, Ms. Hart. You've passed the night physician licensing exam."The examiner handed me my results as the first spring rain of the year fell over Vancouver. It had taken me two attempts. The night I failed the first time, I cried alone until dawn. Not just because of the exam, but because I suddenly missed my grandmother so much it hurt.I wanted to tell her that I hadn't wasted the way out she gave me. That I was becoming a real doctor on my own. And that the next time a patient lay before me with silver in their body, I would never let anyone with power simply pull the only doctor who could save them.I sent the results to Margaret. She replied immediately: Dinner tonight to celebrate. Invite Noah.I said yes.On my way home, my phone rang. A Boston number. I hesitated for a moment, then answered."Eve." Adrian's voice was rougher than the last time, but calm. "I'm not trying to bother you. I just wanted to ask. Are you doing okay?""I am. I just passed my licensing exa

  • The Ninth Blood Bond   Chapter 8

    Margaret soon arranged a training program for my night physician license. After that, my evenings were spent at the clinic, my nights in class, and my predawn hours at home with thick medical textbooks. I often studied until the world beyond the blackout curtains had already gone bright.My days were so filled with studying and patients that I barely had time to think about the people and things I'd left behind in Boston.Noah still came two or three times a week. Under specialist care, his condition had stabilized enough that he no longer needed frequent checkups, yet he still showed up whenever the clinic was at its busiest. He never overstepped, never pressed me about my past. He would quietly help Margaret organize the medicine cabinet, or leave a bag of fresh plasma on my desk when I got too busy to feed.One rainy night, he showed up at my apartment with an insulated pot. "Margaret says you've been pushing yourself too hard. I made chicken noodle soup, and I brought some warm blo

  • The Ninth Blood Bond   Chapter 7

    That morning, Margaret showed me a post Adrian had made. The photo was of the departure hall at Vancouver's night terminal. The caption read simply: I'm sorry. The comment section was empty. All the people who had once crowded around the Mohr heir were nowhere to be seen.I set the phone face down on the windowsill and watched the sky lighten along the horizon. The UV-treated glass kept out the dangerous sunlight, but the outlines of this unfamiliar city were perfectly clear.Compared to the house I'd lived in for the past seven years, this small apartment felt more like home. Because here, no one required me to trade away pieces of myself for peace.A week later, Margaret knocked on the office door. "Eve, three people are here to see you. They say they're your family."I walked out and saw my parents and Lillian.My mother wore no makeup. Her hair had gone noticeably grayer, and her eyes were swollen. My father's shoulders were stooped, his faded coat hanging loosely, and he looked sh

  • The Ninth Blood Bond   Chapter 6

    Two months later, I was working late at the clinic one night, entering patient records, when the doorbell rang.I didn't look up. "We're closed for the night—"The words died in my throat.Adrian stood in the doorway. He had lost a lot of weight. His trench coat hung loose on his frame, cheekbones jutting sharply, the dark red beneath his eyes betraying how long he'd gone without feeding properly. Stubble covered his jaw. His hair was unkempt. The Mohr heir who had always been immaculately dressed, never so much as a cufflink out of place, looked as though two months had drained every ounce of his pride.He saw me and froze. His hands hung at his sides, trembling slightly, his throat working as if he had a thousand things to say but couldn't decide which one he still had the right to speak."Eve." His voice was wrecked. "Are you okay?"I stayed in my chair, not moving. "How did you find me?""The New York clinic said you never showed up. I traced night flight records and contacted ever

  • The Ninth Blood Bond   Chapter 5

    When the night flight landed in Vancouver, Dr. Margaret Bell was waiting for me. She was an old friend of my grandmother's.The last time my grandmother was lucid before she died, she had pressed a manila envelope into my hands. Inside was money she'd saved over the years, a letter of recommendation, and Margaret's address and phone number. She had squeezed my hand and said, "Eve, I don't have much to leave you. This isn't about running away. It's so that when everyone is pushing you to turn back, you'll still have a road that leads forward."I hadn't understood then why she'd said that. Now I did. She had seen long ago that something was wrong between Adrian and Lillian. She had also seen me growing quieter in that house with each passing day.Margaret ran a night clinic in Vancouver that treated vampires who couldn't go to regular hospitals. She also tended to humans who had been injured in vampire-related incidents. She needed an assistant with experience in blood work and silver wo

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