Red Blood (Series of Blood Book 2) Emma Hamm (the beginning after the end read novel .TXT) 📖

held tightly to her arms. “They’re good people. They have a place for us, and they are more powerful than Bones.”

“Now I know you’re lying. No one is more powerful than the Lords,” she rolled her eyes and shoved at him. “Go on; you’re going to get me in trouble.”

“It’s the Five, Lyra.”

“They are a myth. You’re not going to convince me to come with you by telling me that a childhood story has come to life.”

“They have. I’ve seen them with my own eyes. Lyra.” He shook her as though that would make his point. “They’re real, and they’re asking for us.”

“Why us?” Lyra’s whispered question seemed to echo in her mind. Yet again she was going to be used for something. She knew it in the pit of her stomach. This wasn’t the better choice. She should stay here and remain with the devil she knew.

“I don’t know. They don’t seem to know either. They have rooms for us. Food. Drink. Family. Don’t you want to know what being a family feels like again?”

Not really. She remembered what being a family meant. Family was dark looks and statements that were more jagged edges than words. Family was a group of people who despised her for not being the right kind of creature, for things she had no control over.

She looked up into Jasper’s eyes and saw how much he wanted to go. He had never truly had a family other than her. He wanted to know what that life would be like. And even if they didn’t get the family he so desperately wanted then they would still have each other.

“Why do you want this so badly?” she couldn’t help but ask.

“For us. I’m tired of being a weapon, and I’m tired of you being used. It’s time for us to find another life. To be happy in that life.”

Again he ran his fingers behind her ear. His hand traveled behind her head until he could give her high ponytail a playful yank. This resulted in a grin from her though she was still concerned.

Bones wouldn’t be happy. But Jasper didn’t know she only had a few more years until she had to return here anyways. She owed it to him to at least give this a chance.

Sighing, she nodded. “Okay. Okay, I’ll go with you.”

Jasper let out a happy whoop of laughter and wrapped her in a bear hug. “I promise you’re going to like them.”

“I don’t know about that; I don’t like people.”

“You’re going to like these people.”

She didn’t let Bones know where she was going. In the end, she didn’t owe that man anything at all. They disappeared from the street and the door she was guarding. Only to reappear in Haven.

NOW

Lyra gasped and wrenched away from Pitch’s palms. Her head was pounding as the memory was ripped out of her head without her wish. This kind of power was something she had not guessed Pitch was capable of using. Something that no one should have been capable of other than her impossible Magician.

Breathing heavy, she stumbled away from him. “What are you?”

“The same thing I have always been.”

“I said,” she lifted a hand to point directly at him, “what are you?”

He bowed low with a mocking grin on his face. “A creature doing his job. Now you remember, and I need you to hold that memory in your mind. Remember the feelings. Remember what is important to you.”

“Jasper? What does he have to do with this?”

“No. No, Lyra, you’re not thinking like Wolfgang now. The feelings in that memory are the point I am trying to make. You trusted Jasper entirely to bring you to a new life. To a home. And that is precisely what he did.”

“I’m not following you, Pitch.”

He raised a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I forget I’m dealing with a Siren. Let me put this as plainly as I can. Every step of your life has brought you to this moment. You have a safe home. A family. The love of your life within your grasp. And you are now frightened so you want to run from it. Yes?”

She nodded.

“I’m telling you to not do that because of that warmth in your gut that I know is difficult for a Siren to remember. Someone is trying to take all of this away from you. Malachi. He is trying to take everything away, and you want to do his dirty work for him?”

Lyra swallowed hard. Every word he said was like a dart being fired directly into her soul. He was throwing her words back against her and making her seem selfish. Perhaps she truly was selfish.

“No, I don’t want that,” she murmured. The words gave her strength. Reminded her who she was and what she needed to do.

“Good.” Pitch looked pleased with himself. “Now I’m going to go get someone who is very important to all of this. I need you to get your team and the Five together. Tell them the truth.”

“About what?”

“Everything, Lyra. Everything.”

Pitch stepped back into the waiting arms of his shadows. They pulled him from her and left her alone with her own thoughts in the shattered remnants of her room. She could only hope that this was not yet another mistake she would come to regret.

Chapter 10

“Thank you all for coming here,” Lyra said quietly as she stared down at her hands.

They were all gathered in the living room. This was where they always talked about important things even though it didn’t always feel like the right place for it. Now was the time for her to come clean. She didn’t want to tell them the truth. She didn’t want them to know about her darkest lie.

But Pitch was right. It was far past time for her to tell them everything that needed to be said. This was her family, as much as she hated to admit it. Sirens didn’t need anyone. They weren’t supposed