Raven's Blood Read online

Chapter Forty-Two

  Raven wasn’t sure if Graham was bored with tormenting her or just wanted her to recover enough to replenish her blood supply faster, but she was grateful for the two days of recovery time. With a clear head, she no longer wished for death, and she was hopeful her friends would find a way to help her escape so they could stop Graham.

  They had her locked in a cell close to Rand, which she much preferred to being locked up close to the newly turned vampires who were usually desperate for blood. Rand was so large he couldn’t stand up straight in his cell. While she was certain he’d lost some bulk, his shoulders were still enormous. Well over six feet tall, Rand had bronzed skin, long black hair, chocolate brown eyes, and a crooked nose.

  “I never would have pictured you with Norah,” she remarked.

  He chuckled. “Yeah, it took me by surprise, too. Here I am this big ugly fighter, and she’s this tiny thing. When we first met, I thought she was too timid for me.”

  Raven shook her head. “Norah might come off that way at first, but she’s strong. Her friends were shocked when I was teaching her how to fight.”

  “You taught my wife how to fight?” Rand asked.

  “Yeah, and she’s really good. From what I understand, it’s just recently she started coming out of her house. Norah took losing you really hard.”

  Rand was silent for a long time. “She’s the only thing that kept me going. I was really out of it when they first brought me here, and I don’t really remember much of what happened. When I finally got my mind working, all I thought about was Norah. I would have just let go and died if I didn’t dream of making it back to her.”

  She heard Danny outside of the door. “C’mon, you know I’ve gotta take her out to the trees to keep her blood supply up. You heard Graham.”

  “No one goes near her while Graham is away,” said a curt female voice.

  “Graham gave us very specific orders,” confirmed a male voice.

  “Fine,” Danny began with a huff, “but don’t come crying to me when Graham is all pissy because you wouldn’t let me do my job.”

  Next, she heard several loud crashes and a few grunts before the door opened and Layla rushed in followed by the other eight members of her team.

  “Damn, Layla,” Danny muttered as he looked out into the hallway. “You have gotten really violent over the last several days.”

  Layla ignored him and unlocked Raven’s cell door. “Are you okay, Raven?” Layla didn’t give her a chance to reply before she started talking again. “I’ve been so worried about you, but Danny the dumbass wouldn’t let me anywhere near you. He said they wouldn’t believe I’d turned my back on you. He could’ve at least let me sneak out to see you when they took you to the trees.”

  “Danny did the right thing,” Raven assured her. “It’s what I would have recommended. We need to release Rand and get out of here quickly. Does anyone have a hoodie or something we can use to keep Rand’s face hidden?”

  “Are you sure we want to release the vampire?” Mark asked hesitantly.

  Raven couldn’t really blame him for being nervous about releasing Rand. Had Rand been human, he would have been scary. As a vampire, he was terrifying.

  “We need his help, and his wife is my friend,” Raven reminded Mark.

  Layla was already unlocking the cell.

  Rand uncurled his large body from the cell and stumbled before catching himself on the bars of the cell.

  “Are you going to be okay?” Raven asked.

  He nodded. “The extra blood helped a lot. I’m just not at full strength yet.”

  Raven held her wrist in front of his face. “Feed fast.”

  Rand let out a weak bark of laughter. “Con would kill me.”

  Raven huffed. “We don’t have time to argue. Nymph blood is stronger, and I replenish it fast. Once we hit the woods, I’ll recover even faster. This is the only way you’ll get back to Norah.”

  With no further hesitation, Rand sank his fangs into her wrist, and Raven tried hard not to flinch. She didn’t want to scare her friends, but it hurt. Thankfully, Rand was quick and efficient. When he was done, he gave her a slight bow. “Thank you.”

  “Are you okay to fight?” Danny asked as he held out her harness and eskrima sticks.

  “Always,” Raven responded with a smile as she secured the harness to her back. She pulled the sticks out, knowing they’d need to fight their way off the island.

  Mark brought in a hoodie from one of the guards for Rand. It was obviously too small but at least he was able to put it on.

  “Graham left today to meet with your vampires,” Danny told her. “He offered to trade your safety for some of their surrenders. He has a few in mind.”

  Raven shook her head. “Connor would never go for that.”

  “He agreed,” Danny said with a sigh. “Now, I’m not saying he doesn’t plan to double-cross Graham. In fact, I’m guessing that’s what Graham is expecting since he took some of his inner guard and a bunch of turned vampires with him. I’d guess he also has guards and vampires waiting in the woods by the meeting place because he seemed really excited about the surprise he has planned for your vampire.”

  “I’m going to help them,” Raven insisted.

  “That’s why we’re all armed and ready to go,” Mark explained.

  Raven smiled. “You’re all going to fight on the side of the vampires?”

  “Well,” Layla began, “we’ve obviously been wrong about a lot of things. If you say the vampires are worth saving, then we save them. We did just let the big scary one out of the cage.”

  Rand laughed. “The big scary one is eternally in your debt.”

  Raven was so happy, she thought she might cry. Connor had been right about many things, but not her friends. They were all just as loyal to her as she was to them.

  Now, it was time to rescue her vampire friends. She knew they were probably outnumbered, but they did have one advantage; Graham had no idea they were coming.