Page 53 of Forced Bonds

“Which of them?” I asked. “There were quite a few.”

“The ones with the red necklaces, of course. Who else did you think was controlling them?”

“Wait,” Chris said, looking at the vampire. “You were controlling the witches? They weren’t using the stones to control the rogues?”

She broke out into a musical laughter. “You two are so funny, now come along, I have a human on the brink of death waiting for you.”

“What?” I snarled, almost tearing into her before I could stop myself.

“We were of the belief that you held the book for yourself, gaining its wisdom. You and your coven, Salizar, had declared war against all vampire covens simply because you had the book in your possession. Did you truly think we did not know about it?”

“War?” I spluttered. “Why would we be at war for owning it?!”

“You truly don’t know what it holds, do you?” she asked, gaze imploring.

“No,” I gritted out. “We know nothing else than about the cure for the rogues.”

She laughed again, turning her back on us as she led us down a spiral staircase. “This will be so much fun.”

Chris and I shared a look, then followed her down to what could only be a dungeon. The stairs were made from stone and the walls were all stone as well. The air grew colder as we descended, each step feeling like we were closing in on Benji, but I didn’t feel relieved, more on guard as we moved slowly down.

At the end of the stairs, she stopped and smirked at us. “I’m Isabelle, the Greenwren Coven master. But I bet you figured that out already.” I had, her giving us her back was the ultimate power move. No one would do that unless they knew with absolute certainty that they wouldn’t be killed.

“Pleased to meet you, Isabelle,” I answered, mostly so I wouldn’t get killed for my lack of manners.

Chris just bowed his head, still clutching the book to his chest. Isabelle simply laughed again and walked down the hallway to our right. “Your human is being held down here. We had to get some things cleared away, but it truly seems you were oblivious to the book’s secrets.”

I hated how weak that made us look. We had this sought after book in our grasp, but had no idea what made it so special. She stopped in front of a metal door and opened it. We followed and the smell of Benji’s blood hit me. My eyes glowed red and I snarled at Isabelle.

“A-ah,” she tsked. “We had to do what we could to get answers, you’ll soon learn why.”

Chris all but threw the book at me and dashed into the room, kneeling in front of Benji who was attached to chains in the ceiling. They’d bound both of his wrist, one of them torn off the ceiling, his arm broken and bending weirdly. He was unconscious, just swaying in place. Two other vampires were in the room, lounging to the side, one with white hair and one with black, both standing from their chairs when their master approached.

“This is where you hand over the book,” Isabella said, standing right next to me. I handed it over, pleased to get rid of whatever evil that was held within it. Chris was still kneeling as he looked over Benji’s injuries, checking our poor mate’s body for any bruises. We would find several. His face was bloodied, even his hair was darker in places, clearly because of dried blood. I was so angry I was shaking.

“The book you’ve just handed over to me holds the spell which will invoke the passage to hell,” Isabelle purred, leaving the room in a flourish, her two coven members trailing after her.

We were left alone to take care of Benji and even with the knowledge that hell could be opened, or whatever her ominous words meant, it wasn’t my priority. Benji was.

I rushed over there, tearing the chain out of the ceiling and breaking it. I did my best not to hurt Benji as I tore it apart from his wrist, holding his slumped body against mine as Chris whined next to me, looking over his legs for injury. It seemed his head and arm were the targeted areas, but I’d yet to check his middle.

“We need to get him out of here,” Chris growled. “I can feel my werewolf at the surface and if he comes out, we’re all dead.”

“Agreed,” I said, holding Benji firmer against me. We left the horrible dungeon and somehow were able to leave without anyone following us. I bet they were too busy opening the passage to hell. Chris sat with Benji in the backseat, holding him in place gently so as to not disturb any internal injuries.

“Hospital,” I declared. I wasn’t sure he would survive for much longer and we needed help quickly. Chris just grunted his agreement, stroking Benji’s cheek as I drove. I dialed Anker, knowing it would be faster than calling Altaur.

He picked up immediately. “Salizar, what do you need?”

“A healer. Maybe two. Benji is…” I swallowed. “I don’t know how long he’ll live without healing.”

“I’ll send Denise and Veron to your location, keep your phone on you at all times, that’s the one I’ll be tracking. Ten minutes. You’re five away from the hospital, they’ll meet you there.” He hung up and I sighed with relief when I saw he’d added the hospital into the GPS, leaving me to focus on driving.

The nurses had taken one look at us and then flew into action, getting us a room within seconds. Benji was in intensive care now, currently undergoing surgery. I wanted to wait on the healers, knowing we could avoid this, but he had some internal bleeding so we decided to go ahead and let them tend to him. Chris and I paced the hallway, hating to be parted from our human when he was hurting.

Denise and Veron joined us five minutes later, also pacing the hallway. They hated being in a place like this, forced to feel so many humans who needed help, who were hurting. Healers were rare, and our coven was lucky to have ten of them. Denise and Veron lived in the main mansion with me, both of them got healing abilities when they bonded to their vampires. Shifters could be born with the ability to heal, as could witches. Witches were the only ones who could learn to heal. Everyone else had to be born or changed to have the ability. We had one vampire who could heal after his transition, but only using blood magic. It was a dangerous thing if it included humans, so he was only tasked with healing other vampires in the coven and rarely used his powers.

Finally, the door opened and a doctor came over with a small smile. We knew he was alive, otherwise we wouldn’t be, but it still soothed something inside of me seeing that smile.