Chapter 13

+ Lucy +

"What the hell is a blood bond?" Nick demanded. Unlike me, he still had the ability to talk. After the words "blood bond" and "forbidden" my mind went blank. I may not be an expert in vampire politics but I knew well enough that when they said forbidden, they really meant it, and the penalty for defying them was... death.

Will ran a hand through his hair and started shuffling through stacks of paper. "I may be wrong but you two have a good chunk of what usually makes a blood bond. I'm not even sure if it is possible anymore, the last reported cases happened at least five hundred years ago-"

"That's not what I asked, Will. What will it entitle for us? How did it even happen in the first place if it's as rare as you said." Nick urged him. Will exhaled sharply. "I'll tell you everything I know, but you have to keep in mind that not all the information is true. As I said, not much is known about it."

"It doesn't matter, it's the only lead we've got." Nick said desperately, his hand tightening on mine.

"Well, when our race was just at the beginning and only a handful of us roamed the world, our race was weak. Vampires chose to mate and reproduce with other vampires so there were many cases of incest which did not help to strengthen the gene pool. The thought of turning humans was blasphemy to the early vampires. Humans were considered as mutts, only good to sustain us. As legend says, the blood bound formed during these early days for our people, when a vampire fell in love with a human feeder. He had never fed fed from her, and simply admired her from afar. Once, a vampire attacked her, leaving her only breaths away from her death. Out of instinct, he gave her his blood to save her and thus creating the first blood bond. That's about as much as I can decipher of this story. Their names where Arabella and Alexandru, quite fitting, I think since their names mean gracefully beautiful and defender of man kind." I sucked in the story, etching all the details of the sketchy story in my mind.

"Cute story, but what did it mean for them? Did she become some sort of vampire?" Nick asked, earning a glare from Will who was obviously trying his best not to smack his little brother. "As I was saying, there is another testimony of a blood bound couple which goes back fifty years later. They left a detailed report on their story. Basically both had the same background of the couple before them. The male vampire, Dragomir tells that he had been attracted to the human long before he gave her his blood. They shared something way before the connection existed. The woman, Oana, tells her story as she died, fighting the blackouts, seeing the darkness trying to swallow her. When Dragomir saved her, he gave her a part of his life, as she alone would not have carried on. By doing this, they both had access to each other's dreams and emotions, especially when these were too strong."

"I don't understand." I finally managed to croak out. "But why would something like this even exist in the first place. Surely evolution doesn't give a rat's ass to emotions and all this stuff." Will somehow managed to look more uncomfortable than before. "You're right, Lucy. Nature thinks of everything. This bond is a way to ensure healthy infants that would grow into the strongest vampires possible. It bonds two people for one specific reason, to procreate. It simply ensures the survival our species by finding the strongest, most ideal mate for a vampire to bear his children." he said solemnly. I did not even dare to look at Nick's face. I got to live, but in return I'd have to be a mother to Nick's children.

"Lucy," I heard someone call from afar. "Snap out of it, you don't need to hyperventilate." I took long calming breaths, trying to regain my composure.

"Well, apart from this emotional crap what else are the side effects?" Nick asked grimly. "And why in hell is it forbidden to our kind?"

"You will not only be tied emotionally, but also physically. If someone is hurting one of you, the other will feel it to. It creates anxiety in both of you if you stay away from each other for too long. And um... you'll probably feel um... more attracted to each other than usual," We shot him a glare which he shrugged off, ",so expect sexual tension, to say the least. Nick, you'll probably be quite over protective on Lucy. And lastly, God forbid from happening, if one of you dies, the other will slowly deteriorate until they die too. The latter is the reason why it's forbidden, because if one of the links is broken, both will suffer tremendously." I swallowed, but my mouth was dry.

This was too much information for me to deal with. What could I do, I was all but literally chained to Nick's side for the rest of my life. I couldn't take it anymore. I got up and ran like hell as Nick called my name after me. I tore through the rooms and outside till I sat down beneath a willow. Even though it was probably way past midnight, I didn't care. I honestly didn't have the energy to ponder on it anymore. I cried. I was making a bad habit out of crying lately. Where usually I was tough and unbreakable, right now I felt more vulnerable than ever.

Why? Of all worthy girls. why me? Nick deserved a beautiful vampire girl who could support him, not some human with a horrible background and enough scars on her body to last her a lifetime. He deserved someone poised and elegant who knew all the rules of etiquette. and what would his parents say? I knew that they treated me as if I was part of the family, but would they really want one of their boys with someone was messed up as me?

The fact that I had no one to talk to was driving me insane. Usually I could just pour out my heart to Solange, but how could I add another thing to worry for her. She could die in a few days, for Pete's sake! I needed to stop being selfish. I had to gather myself, put the broken pieces back together and try to go back to normal. There was a solution to everything if I thought hard. I just had to block off my emotions, at least when around Nick. I could ignore the attraction, that would be the easiest thing to do. As for his protectiveness and anxiety, he'd just have to suck it up and leave me alone. The only thing left is to not die, which wasn't completely in my hands.

That's how my day ended as I cried myself to sleep.

I felt warm and comfortable, safe. Someone was drawing circles on my arm, possibly the most soothing gesture ever created by mankind. I cuddled closer to the unknown person as they pulled me in closer to their body. I put my head in the crock of their neck, inhaling there wonderful woodsy scent that smelt too good to be natural, but I knew that it was. "Lucy." an all to familiar voice whispered in my ear as it placed soft kisses along my throat.

That's when the events of the night before hit me. I whisked myself off the bed, Hating myself as an empty, restless feeling settled down in the pit of my stomach. I didn't know why, but he was smiling. Genuinely. This was no time to be happy. We had a long, painful process ahead of us. I would curse his brilliant future, I knew it. I couldn't bare to see myself do that to him. I lo- cared too much for him to see him go to waste because of me.

"Lucy, I-"

"I know what you're going to say and I agree with you. We need to break this stupid blood bond as soon as possible, no matter how." I watched, as much to my surprise, his smile faltered and disappeared into nothing, leaving behind his expressionless poker face.

XXX

Ohhh... the plot thickens... Tell me your thoughts! What do you this about the Blood Bond? Don't forget to review... you know you want to :P