Blood Ties Book Two: Possession. Jennifer Armintrout

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СКАЧАТЬ reached for the envelope. When he lifted it, glossy, black-and-white photographs slid out.

      I covered my mouth, but couldn’t look away. The horrible pictures showed a woman, her head nearly severed, the column of her throat ripped away to the spine.

      “I believe your friend Mr. Galbraith is responsible for this?” Breton asked, as though he needed confirmation.

      A wave of sickness crept up my own throat as I nodded slowly. On the news, a witness had mentioned the victim’s throat had been torn. In reality, the whole front of her neck had been excised. The ragged edges of the wound were the impressions of teeth.

      “Nathan’s been possessed by something,” Max explained, never looking at the photos. “That’s why we’re here.”

      “Yes, that’s what Anne tells me. She said he attacked you, Dr. Ames. Tell me what happened.” The general leaned back in his chair as though it would fool me into believing his mind hadn’t been made up already.

      I kept it short. “I went downstairs to our bookstore—”

      “You live with Mr. Galbraith?” Breton tapped his lips with his forefinger. “Are you married?”

      “No, he’s my…” I stopped myself before I could say “sire.” Nathan was on probation as it was, and killing this jogger definitely didn’t help matters. If they knew he’d saved my life by giving me his blood, instead of just doing away with me as Movement law dictated, he’d definitely be toast.

      I tried to think of a way to explain our convoluted relationship and came up with nothing. “He’s my…lover?”

      A weird expression crossed the general’s face, the physical equivalent of the phrase “too much information.” “I see. Please, continue.”

      “I went down to the bookstore. It was messed up, and Nathan attacked me.” It hurt just remembering it, phantom pain from the attack, phantom pain where the blood tie should have been.

      Breton pushed one of the photos toward me. “He also attacked this young woman. How did you escape when she did not?”

      I bit my lip. I assumed the reason Nathan had left me alone was the smell of his blood in me. I couldn’t reveal that to Breton. “I talked to him. I asked him not to hurt me.”

      “I see.” The general nodded and reached into the envelope. He pulled a slip of yellow paper from it, and Max took a loud breath.

      “What is that?” I looked from the general to Max. “What’s going on?”

      “It’s a kill order.” Max’s face was grim.

      Before I could protest, Breton spoke. “If Mr. Galbraith could be reasoned with at the time he attacked Dr. Ames, he was not possessed.”

      “What about the symbols?” I stammered. “He had symbols carved into his skin.”

      “No matter.” Breton waved a hand. “Mr. Galbraith was on probation. He’s killed again, and he must be dealt with.”

      “Dealt with?” I stood, knocking the chair back. Max grabbed my arm but I shrugged him off. “I was there. I saw him. Nathan would never do anything like this! Something forced him to act that way.”

      “And I’m supposed to take your word for that?” Breton’s eyes narrowed. “The word of a vampire who has never joined the Movement, standing up for a vampire who turned his back on all we stand for?”

      My hands shook with anger. “Fine. I’ll join the Movement right now. Where do I sign up? Because once I get my membership card, I’m going to lodge a complaint against you for being…such an asshole!”

      “Harrison,” Breton barked, though his enraged gaze never left mine. “Kindly keep your visitor under control before drastic measures are taken!”

      “Calm down!” Max had never used such a tone with me. That he did it now showed how afraid he was of Breton. “General, there has to be some way to fix this so Nathan doesn’t have to die.”

      “The decision is final.” The general scraped the photos into a neat pile.

      I turned helplessly to Max. He couldn’t look me in the eye. I knew then nothing could be done.

      I glared at the slip of yellow paper. For a moment, I imagined grabbing the kill order and shredding it into a hundred pieces, but that wouldn’t solve anything. So long as the Movement wished it, Nathan was already dead.

      “What about the Oracle?” I asked, hope clutching feebly for purchase in my chest. “What if she—”

      Breton’s eyes narrowed. “No one has given you permission to speak to the Oracle.”

      “We were going to ask you, General.” Max gave me a frosty glare. “I just hadn’t gotten around to it.”

      “The Oracle is useless. I do not believe she has made an accurate prediction to date. And she is…unpredictable. We cannot risk a civilian in contact with her.”

      “I think I can handle myself!” It was definitely the wrong tactic to take with him. I realized it too late.

      The general shook his head. “We are finished here. See yourselves out, please.”

      Max put his hand on my arm. “Let’s go, Carrie.”

      Before I knew what I was doing, I reached for the kill order. “Fine. If someone is going to kill him, it might as well be me.”

      “You’re not Movement.” Breton offered no further explanation.

      “I’m his fledgling!” I pounded my fist on the table. There was no sense keeping it secret if he were going to be killed, anyway.

      The general looked to Max, an expression somewhere between anger and mirth crossing his face. “Harrison? You told me she was sired by Simon Seymour.”

      “I was!” In my anger I’d forgotten the trouble Max would get into for knowing—and not reporting—that Nathan had revived me. “Cyrus tried to kill me. Nathan gave me his blood to revive me. But Max didn’t know.”

      “Is this true, Harrison?” Breton looked at Max the way a venomous snake looks at its next meal.

      Max nodded, giving me a terse glance. “I don’t doubt it for a minute. Maybe you should let her go after Nathan herself. She’d know best where to find him.”

      The general shook his head. “We can’t trust a non-Movement vampire to carry out this kind of job. Especially not if he is her sire. You know as well as I do the kind of pain that causes. She is not likely to inflict it on herself.”

      “I’m sorry, Carrie,” Max said, taking my hand and squeezing it.

      It couldn’t end like this. My mind raced. Nathan had given me some training, but I would be no match in a fight with an assassin. On top of that, I had no idea where I’d find Nathan or if I’d find him in time. For all I knew, another assassin might be headed for him this very moment.

      “Let СКАЧАТЬ