The Blood That Binds: A Suspenseful Urban Fantasy for Magic Fans (Twisted Book 4) Read online

  Copyright ©2018 Jo Ho

  All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this story are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Jo Ho.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Afterword

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Shoppers strolled around on the streets outside, soaking up the last of the day’s sun, not a care in the world. Inside the car, however, it was a different story. Its passengers sat shaken, their faces as pale as marble.

  Overwhelming silence blanketed the car.

  Christian sat in the backseat, his back ramrod straight, lips tightened into a thin line. While, gripping the steering wheel, staring dead ahead, Eve hadn’t spoken at all the entire drive back. Marley was actually relieved, having no words left. She had used them all up apologizing for her reckless behavior which had nearly gotten the two of them killed.

  The fight at the graveyard had taken everything out of them. Even before the demons had come, Marley had spent all of her energy summoning those ghosts, which she would have known were there if she hadn’t taken that stupid pill, which had resulted in her somehow blocking them out. While she had now figured out that the pill only had a placebo effect on her, that she could willingly block out spirits using only the power of her mind, she hadn’t been privy to that particular knowledge when had been most important. If Eve hadn't appeared at the right time, if she hadn't used her power to help, Marley would be in big trouble right now. At best, she would be captured by those demons.

  At worst, she would be dead.

  As shame flooded her body, red-hot anger also raised its head. What was the point of having a power if she couldn’t save herself with it? The other girls had active powers. Even Cassie could escape any situation by ‘becoming’ somebody else. But what could she do? Talk to ghosts? How useful was that really? As she lamented her lack of abilities, her eyes flicked over to the rearview mirror… and there, despite all physical laws of nature, Christian’s arresting face stared back at her, reflected in the glass.

  The golden flecks in his eyes seemed even more prominent today, as if their brush with danger had caused them to shine with a brightness that made them almost glow. A memory popped into her mind then, of the first time she had seen his extraordinary eyes close-up… but with it came a darker thought that she couldn’t stamp out quickly enough. Her powers weren’t entirely useless.

  Occasionally, she could stick her hands into someone’s chest and stop their heart.

  As always, the guilt she felt at killing Christian overwhelmed any other emotion, until she had to mentally shake herself from the pity party she was throwing. Though Christian was clearly upset, he wasn’t whining about his lot in life — or lack thereof — not even when she knew he felt almost as helpless as she did.

  Twice he had seen other ghosts interact with objects from the mortal world yet he had no idea how to do this himself. It hadn’t really crossed her mind until now how terrible that must feel, to not be able to physically do anything. To have to just stand there, watching, while awful things happened around him. She could certainly relate. It was how she had felt whenever that terrifying she-ghost appeared; however, even that wasn’t as simple as it should be now. If Christian wasn’t mistaken in what he saw earlier, it seemed she had saved Marley’s life. The scary she-ghost was on her side.

  Marley didn’t know whether to be relieved about that or not.

  The welcoming sight of the parking lot finally greeted them. Eve eased the car into a space, killing the engine. Getting out of the car, they had started the short walk to TJ Halls when a pain in Marley’s side caused her to gasp out loud, resulting in Christian’s concerned gaze. Gingerly, she reached down to investigate the area just above her waist when another sharp burst of pain exploded beneath the pressure of her fingers. The demon who had attacked her had knocked her to the ground. She must have landed harder than she remembered though it didn’t seem like anything was broken — just bruised — though annoyingly, the pain worsened with movement. Gritting her teeth, Marley focused on putting one foot in front of the other. The sooner she got to her room, the sooner she could rest.

  Arriving outside their dorm, Marley slid her ID into the card reader. The doors swung inward, revealing a few students in the hallway. A few of the doors were open. They passed by two girls heatedly debating the merits of a recently released television show, whilst another folded laundry as she sang along to the radio. Their chatter filled the air, which only served as a stark contrast to the silence between Eve and Marley.

  After what seemed like an age, they reached Marley’s room. She unlocked the door and they hurried inside. Marley felt along the wall until her fingers landed on the light switch. Four lamps blinked on simultaneously, bathing the room in a warm glow. Eve took a seat at the table. Although she couldn’t see him, Christian joined her while Marley went into the bathroom. Pulling up her top, she turned, inspecting her injury in the mirror. As she had expected, an ugly purple bruise covered her side from the waist up to her rib cage. At least no bones protruded from her skin; that would have been really bad. A few bruises she could live with.

  Rejoining the others, she went to the mini fridge by Cassie’s side of the room. It was one of the pieces of furniture her parents had brought with them, even before Marley had set foot on campus. She took out two sodas, handing one to Eve. Sitting beside her, Marley popped open a can. "In all the crazy, I forgot to ask where Cassie went.”

  At the mention of her name, guilt flashed over Eve’s face. She looked down, focusing on the drink in her hands. "We had a… disagreement. She went off on her own," was the mumbled reply.

  Christian shot Marley a skeptical look over Eve’s head. “Why do I get the feeling there’s a lot more to the story than she’s telling?”

  Marley didn’t know how she could respond to him without Eve hearing, so she said nothing, only issuing a small nod to let him know she agreed.

  “I suppose we should be grateful that nothing else happened to them while they were gone. Of course, many of the problems we’ve faced so far could have been avoided had any of you just listened to me in the first place.” Apparently, he just couldn’t help himself from making the dig.

  Whatever he was going to say next Marley would never know, as the door opened, revealing Cassie in the doorway. Seeing them, she froze as conflicting emotions flashed over her face. "Hey," Marley said finally, breaking the ice, since it seemed nobody else was going to say anything.

  “Hi,” Cassie replied back, though it was obvious the greeting was only directed at her. Eve put down the drink that she hadn’t touched yet, licking her black-paint
ed lips nervously.

  Marley could cut the tension with a knife. “Eve was just telling me that you guys split up earlier because of a problem. What happened?" she asked, hoping that if she confronted the issue directly, she would get an answer.

  Cassie looked at Eve as she went to her bed. She dumped her bag onto it and sat down, folding her arms over her chest. “It’s nothing," she said. From the look on her face and the stiff body language, Marley knew she was lying. She glanced back at Eve, but Eve kept her eyes fixed on a spot on the carpet. Marley wasn't going to get anything out of these two.

  “It’s lucky we’re not relying on their acting skills or we’d be screwed,” Christian said.

  Though Marley wanted to know what had happened between the two of them, she didn’t have the energy to deal with it. What with the pain she was intermittently experiencing, her guilt of what she had done, and the flashes of that horrific demon face that kept reappearing in her mind, they would have to fix their relationship themselves. Marley was done refereeing their drama. She issued a long, impatient sigh.

  Picking up on her irritation, Eve looked up from the floor at Cassie, summoning up her courage as she tucked a strand of curls behind an ear. "About before," she began. "I am sorry, Cass. I didn't mean for any of it to happen."

  Cassie stared back at her, her eyes hurt and troubled, as if she were trying to accept the apology but struggling to do so. After a loaded pause, she nodded. "I told you it's fine, nothing happened." Her eyes slid cautiously to Marley. “Anyway, you haven’t told me about the graveyard yet. Are you both OK?” Cassie asked, neatly changing the subject.

  Relieved that they were talking again, Marley went over what happened, even though just speaking made the pain in her side ache again. When she was done, Cassie slumped back against the headboard.

  “I’m kind of glad I wasn’t there with you. I wouldn’t have known what to do in your place.”

  Any response was drowned out by Tyler as she crashed through the door. Her eyes were a little wild, her hair disheveled. Dumping her bag onto the floor she moved to Marley's bed and flung herself over it face down. "I can't believe the messages I've been getting from you guys!”

  "Yeah, we got lucky this time. Well, I did," Marley corrected herself. “If Eve hadn't been there things might have turned out differently.” Her voice cracked as she thought about how close those demons' feelers had come to her.

  “Probably would have helped if you hadn’t drowned me out, huh? Hindsight,” Christian said, not even pretending to be sympathetic. Marley kept herself calm, refusing to rise to the bait.

  "Well, what we can do about this? We can't just keep sitting around waiting for the next demon attack. We need to do something, be on the offensive." Tyler said forcefully, popping her knuckles.

  "Yeah. I'm tired of getting attacked,” Eve agreed.

  “I wondered how long it would take before you’d come to this conclusion yourselves,” Christian said. “It’s not like I’ve not been saying this since the minute I met you.”

  Marley had some choice words for him but thought better of it. ”Then do we have any ideas?" Marley asked. "As far as I know we have no leads on the seals, and I'm not even sure that we're going to find any, not through our rather unhelpful school library."

  A light came on in Eve's eyes. She reached into her jacket, speaking tentatively. "I found something earlier. I wasn't sure if it would be useful but…” She took out a wrinkled leaflet, unfolding it before setting it down on the table. Smoothing the paper back with her fingers she turned the leaflet face up.

  They moved in for a closer look. The four of them were staring down at the table when Marley felt the presence of Christian peering over her shoulder. “Is that a discount leaflet?" came his incredulous voice. “You want to go shopping at a time like this?”

  Marley repeated his comment resulting in an answering slit of Eve’s eyes. “Of course not, stupid. Look at what the shop sells," Eve replied testily.

  Marley took in the cursive silver font announcing the name of the store “Juju". She would have thought it was a new club or bar if not for the fact that a cauldron and a black cat formed part of the shop’s logo. It was a magic shop that sold magical items and ingredients. Marley picked up the leaflet turning it over to find more bizarre things on discount. Things like powdered chicken feet, snake scales, and other mystical-sounding objects. “This can’t be real…”

  "I don't know, it looks legit, but we could check it out," Eve said.

  “The place is obviously catering for idiots. No one needs a battery-operated broom,” Christian said.

  “To that, I raise you a Roomba,” came Tyler’s tired reply. “Have you not seen the cats riding Roomba’s Reddit thread?” She seemed to be yo-yoing rapidly. Hyper one minute, crashing the next.

  “It's not like we have any other leads to go on. Do you think it’s a coincidence that this leaflet was right at the place where Eric’s snitch is supposed to be? It couldn’t hurt to see,” Marley offered. “If it’s a genuine magic place, maybe we’ll find out what that symbol I saw on those demon’s heads were.”

  “You could check that out at Guardian Base easily,” Christian interrupted, clearly not happy for them to take this little side trip.

  “But that doesn’t have 15% off now does it,” Eve suddenly grinned, pointing at the leaflet. “Plus it’s all the way across town. This place is closer.”

  Tyler moved down to the floor. She bunched up her bag, resting her head on top of it. “Sounds like a plan, but it’s late now and I’m wicked tired. We should figure out the details tomorrow.” The words were barely out of her mouth before her eyes slid closed. Within seconds the rhythmic moving of her chest was the only clue that she was still alive. Marley marveled at how fast she had fallen asleep.

  Eve glanced at her watch then jumped out of her chair, her eyes flashing with horror. “Is that the time? I’ve got to get the car to Si, he needs it to get to work." Without saying goodbye, she tore out of the room leaving Marley and Cassie staring down at the sleeping Tyler.

  "Should we wake her so she can go to her own room?" Cassie asked.

  “You saw how tired she was. Maybe we should just leave her,” Marley said. Grabbing a blanket, she covered Tyler with it then started getting ready for bed.

  Eve floored the gas all the way home.

  She made it back in record time but she knew it wasn't good enough; Si stood outside the house, his arms crossed over his chest looking as mad as hell. She pulled in front of their house, hurried out of the car. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize it had gotten so late.”

  “You’re twenty minutes late! I would have called an Uber if I knew how long you were going to be. Instead, I just kept standing here thinking any second now…” He swerved around her, getting into the car, but he wasn’t done laying into her yet. "You're usually so reliable, what is with you lately?” he asked, furious with her.

  She wanted to explain herself, wanted to tell him every single thing that had happened to her so he could understand all that had been going on with her, but she knew she couldn't. She couldn't risk putting him in danger. All she could do was apologize and take the full brunt of his anger.

  “I’m sorry,” she tried again, but, disgusted with her, Si stamped on the pedal. Smoke spluttered out of the exhaust as he tore away, leaving Eve to face her guilt alone.

  Chapter 2

  A road sweeper swept past, yellow lights blinking, proximity alarm beeping.

  Michael waited with barely concealed impatience until the vehicle passed by, taking with it the trash of the day. He moved with purpose, eager to implement the next part of his plan. Twilight had painted the area in a blue glow. A hint of pink sat just along the horizon though it would still be a while before the sun would rise. Michael had timed his arrival perfectly. What he intended to do wouldn’t take long.

  Crossing the road, he entered the college grounds.

  His cold black eyes took in the immaculately tended gr
ounds. The flower beds were in full bloom, the buildings picture perfect from their new coats of paint. To think this was only a place of education, yet it was grander than even the most prestigious of homes back where he was from. These pathetic people had no idea how good they had it. The thought had him burning with resentment.

  He walked quickly until he came upon a two-story building. Only a few of the windows were lit up as a result of night-time cleaners, but Michael wasn't concerned. If he bumped into any of them he could dispatch them simply enough, although the undue attention a rising body count would bring, followed by the inevitable police presence, might prove a hindrance after all. Better they had no idea he had ever set foot in this place. It was why he had come alone. That and Fink was elsewhere, preparing for the next step, or his supernatural sense of smell would have come in handy.

  His eyes scanned the area, searching for the best point of entry and settling on a side of the building that wasn’t overlooked by any other. Walking towards the locked door, Michael held his hand over the handle and gestured. It immediately opened with a click. Normally, he would have preferred to make a much grander entrance, but as stealth was the name of the game, he would have to forgo his penchant for death and destruction tonight.

  He moved down dark corridors, the soles of his shoes barely making a sound. As he passed by walls of framed photographs full of smiling student faces, he had to fight the urge to incinerate them all. They knew nothing of suffering, of the hell others endured just to stay alive.

  But they would learn.