Crimson River by Wulfshard (free e reader TXT) 📖

painful now, to be bitten. You offered me your blood, though. It's important that you know the bond will make it less easy to refuse me - if not impossible sometimes."
What choice do I have, then? Besides, I came here for her!

"I'm here, right?" He answered calmly. "If you want, you can even bind me right now -"
There was a gust of air, a thud onto his chest and he was lying on his bed. She was on top of him. Aria only paused long enough to pin his arms and tilt his neck before Vince's agonized scream echoed through her lair. His pain only seemed to make her fangs sink deeper. As the pain numbed, so did his mind and body. It felt as if the world had become a thick, binding fog. He couldn't think straight. An overpowering weakness came over his eyes, lungs and muscles.
By the time Aria withdrew her fangs he felt nothing but weak and tired. In a daze, he was alarmed and confused when she drew a thin line of blood from her own wrist, then licked the wound shut. The wrist pressed against his lips. Something drove him to drink the blood. As it touched his lips, Vince's eyes grew wide with shock. As it washed away the pain, the fog, and brought strength, his mind kept trying to understand what was wrong with it. The blood was missing something vital, something important.
Somewhere in the back of his mind the hunter knew she was enjoying this. Then she was pulling away her wrist. The feeling of relief depleted into weariness.
Her blood is amazing! Is that how it always feels to her?

A twinge of amusement confused him. "Something like that, yes. And it's similar to how we begin to feel, too."
He gasped - how did she do that?!
She leaned down and kissed him lightly on his lips. He could still taste their blood, mixed together. Part of him was disturbed by it; another didn't want her kiss to end.
"When our blood is mixed than two things can happen, depending on if you're dead or alive. If I kill you and leave even a drop left than you will wake up a vampire like me - except, of course, I have the ability to tell you what to do. But you're very much alive. This forms a bond." Aria was cuddling very close to him. "I control how strong it is by how much blood I let you take. You and I have a very loose bond. I will hear any thought I want and feel all emotions and pain. You will feel my hunger and any emotion I feel like letting you. If I want you to hear a thought you will hear it. And of course the dreams..."
"My mom is still having them."
Aria's entire body tensed. Instantly he realized it had been the wrong thing to say. "I-I'm sorry...I.."
"Never mind. Your mother dreams of me because she won't break the bond. She won't let me feed, or look me in the eyes. I've been trying to haunt her until she agreed. It's been four years and still she simply taunts me...cutting herself to release the blood she promised me..." There was anger, sorrow and even confusion in her voice.
"What happened?"
"I don't fucking know!" She snarled, her eyes blazing with fury. "I left my coven so we could stay together. I would have died for her. Anything she asked for, no matter how difficult it was for me to get, I would get for her. If she said I couldn't feed because she was week, I would hunt down those druggies she prefered me killing. I'd struggle back completely high..."
It was honestly heart stopping to hear. Vince saw the pain in her scarlet gaze. For a moment he hated his mother for doing this. But it was only a moment. Because it was then that he realized why.
"She loves my dad and I."
"What?"
"It's why she stopped letting you." He said quietly. "I mean, you've only recently started trying again, right? How long ago did you actually stop trying?"
She looked him up and down. "Around four months before you were born, actually. Her blood had started to taste different, so I told her to go to the doctor and check to see if she was alrigt. Then all of a sudden she wouldn't talk to me. She wasn't answering my call for her blood, and the dreams did nothing. I came to her, but she only told me she couldn't anymore..."
"She was pregnant. You didn't do anything wrong. She just stopped because she wanted me to live. I was almost miscarried twice early in my development, and was very sickly as a baby. Don't you remember that?"
She relaxed, her eyes glazing. "She could have let me help."
"Help?"
"Yes. I...wasn't allowed near you. She said I was making you sick. It wasn't me...it was Syn. I wanted to help..."
Vince just let her think. He wasn't sure what to think. He just knew there was a lot of pain in her. And it wasn't just from his mother...but from the cold darkness of a vampire's life.
Perhaps it is from the fact that she is the hunter and we are the prey. For her...it was different once. It was different for twenty years. Then Syn took all that away...and made her family prey.

"You need sleep, Vince. Never mind about what I feel." Her voice was normal again, if not a little tired. "I will see you tomorrow night. Don't wake me for school."
He didn't argue. There was no real reason in his mind for vampires like her to go at all. So he just wrapped around her and fell fast asleep.

Chapter Five: Bleeding Hearts

It wasn't until I knew Vince had fallen completely asleep that I relaxed. He'd brought the memories back, but at least now I knew it had been for a reason. I wondered a moment if now that her children were raised Sam would come back to me. But the thought made me feel numb. There was just too much pain when we saw one another.
//Why keep the bond, love?//

I sent the thought to Samantha.
//I understand now why you stopped. But why keep it?//

To my shock, she answered quietly.
~I did it for him, too. I knew you would stick around and protect him...if he ever told you who he was. I will break the bond if you want. Come here, now. Let John see. Is the bond already made between you two?~

For a moment I wondered if I should let her on. The idea was stupid, however. The Fae knew more than humans. She would have known before he left the house.
//Yes. His blood...is so much like yours. I'm sorry. //

~No. I'm happy for you two. Perhaps he is better for you. Maybe you can find real love.~

I was rising when Vince groaned as if in pain. Alarmed, I froze. He turned over, grabbing at his back and head. Rolling him onto his stomach so I could reach his back, I gently peeled up his shirt. Shock flooded me. His entire back was covered in flaking skin and blood.
I gave a powerful mental call to his mother.
~What's wrong? What's going on?~
//You're son's back is peeling and bleeding. He's in a lot of pain. What's going on?
~Oh...your blood must have given him what he needed for his wings. I have them, but I was born with them since I'm only Fae. Most of the time halflings don't get them.~
//So what the hell am I supposed to do?! //
~Darling, don't be silly. Keep his back clean and tell him what he is when he wakes up. I'll come over there and break the bond, but he can't see me. When this happens I can't be near him. It's just the way things are.~

"Kane."
The wolf emerged from the shadows.
"Go get some hot water and anesthetics; I have to help this halfling get his wings."
The beast growled and disappeared.
He's certainly a pain in my ass. I hate werewolves!

The prospect of simply keeping the wound clean was easier said than done. Sam and John - yes, John - were there quickly. I put Kane on cleaning duty and went to see them.
"Are you sure about this?" I asked Sam quietly.
She glanced toward the room. "How is he?"
Looking at the boy's father, I said "Tired. I just finished with him."
"How do you break the bond?" Her husband and Aria's rival asked hastily. He was clearly uneasy to simply be here.
Right now? I mean, there's kind of a sick, bleeding boy in the other room...

"It's a simple process." The words were only a half lie. It was simple...just very painful and cost both of us a lot of blood. "But I'm not sure it's a good idea to do this now..."
"You said yourself that you two should."
Drama, drama, drama! Is that all hunters are fucking good for?!

"Damn-it, John." I snarled, losing my patience. "Do you know how painful this shit is? I'll do it, sure, but somebody will have to give me blood afterwards while somebody else rushes her to the damn hospital. I have to remove her bound blood from me and mine from hers. Not only that, but I have to resist feeding from the one human who I've ever became completely addicted to and still alive."
They stared at me with wide, frightened eyes. "You said simple -"
"It is simple. But it's painful and dangerous too. These bonds aren't meant to be broken and keep the human alive. Up until recently a broken bond meant shutting the human up about our existence. That's a damn sure way, and it's not like we're known for our gentle nature."
Kane snarled for me.
"Look, I will do this in a minute." I sighed, feeling pain shoot through my back. "Kane needs me."
Retreating into the room the scent of Fae blood was overpowering. Instantly the hunger burned. Vince was awake. He groaned. "What...what's going on? Everything hurts..."
He really needs his mother for this.

Walking over, I began to clean the area. The wings were out now, in a mucous membrane I really wasn't sure I should touch. Removing all the blood with the antiseptics. After the wings were dry I wasn't sure what to do.
"Your mother has been doing a lot of hiding things from you, hasn't she?"
"W-what does that mean?"
"Baby...look behind you."
When he listened his face paled. "What the hell are those?!"
"What does it look like genius? They're wings!"
"How is that possible?"
"You're half Fae. Something like a fairy. But the real Fae are rare, powerful human-like beings. They're an ancient race that fight often with vampires over who rules humans. It just so turns out that your mother is one.