Son of Our Blood by Kathi S. Barton Page A

on. Don’t move. I don’t want you
getting hurt because you can’t see.”
    Hurt? Someone had just tried to kill
her. She touched the skin over her heart and was glad there was nothing there. She
looked up at Mac when the light flared to life. She had a thought, something so
quick that she didn’t get a chance to remember it before it was gone, but it
made her more scared than ever.
    “He tried to kill me.” She looked away
as she continued. “He plunged a knife in my chest and tried to kill me. No,
that’s not right, not me. Her. He tried to kill her.”
    “Who? Did you know who he was, where
they were?” She looked up at him sharply. “Did you see his face?”
    Andi shook her head and moved back away
from Mac when he slid off the bed he’d been sitting on and onto the floor where
she was. He didn’t move closer, but she knew that if she tried to leave he’d
grab her.
    “No. I didn’t. How did you know what I
dreamed about?” He closed his eyes and she knew that he was going to tell her
it hadn’t been a dream. “A vampire, like you said you were, killed her. Is that
what you’re going to do to me?”
    She knew he wasn’t. If he had wanted her
dead she’d be there already. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that he—
    “I had the same dream as you. Only…” He
got up now, pulled on a pair of sleep pants, and tossed her the shirt. “Here. You
should get dressed. We have to talk to the queen.”
    “I don’t think so. I don’t know what the
hell is going on, but I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what you mean
that you dreamed the same one as me. You did something to me, didn’t you?” She
pulled the shirt over her nakedness and glared at him when he didn’t answer. “Tell
me who that person was. And I want to know how you knew what was going on.”
    “I’ve been having these dreams. About
this man, that man, for all of my dark life, since I’d changed into a vampire
myself. He’s a vampire, but not like me. He kills those he drinks from and
I…you’re the only person I’ve ever drank from. I usually take my nourishment
from a bag.” His small laugh made her think he was trying to make a joke. Not a
funny one either.
    “So he kills the people he…what did you
call it? Feeds from?” She looked around the room for her clothes and found them
on the back of the chair. “You need to unlock that door now. I want to go
home.”
    “You are home. Or at least until I can
find us something of our own.” He started to pace. “I saw you…or he did, I
suppose. He looked at you twice. I couldn’t make you out, but I’m sure he saw
shadows of you. When he kills, it’s as if I’m him. Understand?”
    No, she had no idea. She stood up and
walked around him as he moved about the room. She pulled on her pants wondering
fleetingly when she’d taken them off, and decided that she had more important
things to worry about right now and not the way she’d gotten naked with—
    “We’re bonded, or whatever you called it,
aren’t we?” He nodded and smiled at her. Not for long, asshole . “How do
we undo this?” Andi pulled his shirt over her head, put hers in its place, and
looked at him when he didn’t answer. He was staring at her with the strangest
look on his face. “I want to know how we get this thing annulled or whatever to
get this bonding thing reversed.”
    “We can’t. Not that I would, but we
can’t. You’re mine and I’m yours. We’re together forever.”
    She had a feeling he meant really
forever, but didn’t comment.
    “I don’t have time to explain things to
you right now, but you have to listen to me. He might have seen enough about
you to know you.”
    She walked to the door and tried to open
it again. He was nuts. No, it was more than that. He was insane. She turned
back to him and glared. “Open this door or else.”
    He threw back his head and laughed. She
didn’t find anything the least bit humorous about this and started to say so
when he started