Blue Bloods (Blue Bloods 1)

"No, not the boy - another," Jordan said. She was shaking violently, and Bliss was surprised to find her sister near tears. She'd never seen Jordan act that way before.

Bliss, still holding the jacket, walked to her side and held her close. "What did you hear?" she asked, trying to soothe her trembling sister.

"There was a thump - like - something heavy dropping - then footsteps, out of your room - dragging something away - then you were screaming - I, I didn't know what to do - so I called Mom and Dad..."

It all made sense now.

The broken window.

Someone had been there.

Someone else.

Or more likely, something.

And it had... oh God, Dylan... all the blood - there was so much blood on the jacket - how could anyone survive after losing so much blood? She felt a deep sense of grief. He was as good as dead. The creature had taken him.

It had returned, to finish the job - to get her - the swelling in her neck - she'd tried to fight it off - if Jordan hadn't heard, if her parents hadn't come... She felt chills. The fine hair on her arms stood on end.

It was no nightmare - she'd been fighting it, it had been there, it was real. It had tried to kill her. What Dylan had tried to warn her about, what she and Oliver and Schuyler had discovered in the Repository. Croatan. A creature that preyed on vampires.

A Silver Blood.

CHAPTER 42

The Forces dropped her off in front of her door.

Schuyler was painfully embarrassed to think that she had accused Jack's father of being a Silver Blood. Even though she was still troubled by his cavalier attitude toward their return - almost as if it didn't bother him - almost as if he had expected it. But that couldn't be true. He was the Regis, their leader, a vampire by choice instead of sin. She had to trust him to know the right thing to do.

"Take it easy," Jack said, bidding her good-bye.

She nodded her thanks and exited from the car. Then she realized she had completely forgotten to ask why Charles was visiting her mother in the first place. Maybe her grandmother would know.

When Schuyler entered the house, she felt a strangeness in the air. The sitting room was as dark and shrouded as ever, but there was a feeling of menace. The umbrella stand had been knocked over, as if someone had run down the stairs in a hurry. The silence seemed ominous. Hattie was away on her week off, and her grandmother would be alone in the house. Schuyler quickened her pace up the stairs. She noticed one of the paintings hanging in the stairway was askew. Someone had definitely been in the house. Someone who did not belong there.

Dylan! What if Dylan had been here? Looking for her? To finish what he'd started? She felt a wild panic. Her grandmother's room was on the far end of the second landing. She threw the doors open and walked briskly inside, calling her name.

"Cordelia! Cordelia!"

There was a moan from the other side of the bed.

Schuyler ran toward the sound, frightened of what she would find. But she didn't scream when she saw Cordelia lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood - thick blue liquid surrounding her - it was almost as if she had known it would happen.

"Fought it off... but so powerful..." Cordelia whispered, opening her eyes to see Schuyler leaning over her.

"Who? Who did this to you?" Schuyler asked, helping Cordelia to a sitting position. "We need to get you to a hospital."

"No, no time." Cordelia argued, her voice barely louder than a croak. "Came for me. Croatan." She spit up blood. "Who? Was it Dylan? Did you see?"

Cordelia shook her head. "I saw nothing. I was blinded momentarily. But it was young, powerful. I did not see its face. I held it off. It tried, but it wasn't able to take me or my memories. But this is the end of my cycle. You need to take me to Dr. Pat's. So they can take my blood. For the next Expression. Very important."

Schuyler nodded, tears in her eyes. "But what about you?"

"This cycle is ended for me. This is the last chance we will have to speak for a long time."

Schuyler told her quickly about what happened at the Carlyle, and what she'd learned from Charles Force about Dylan, how he'd been bitten, and turned, by a Silver Blood. How he had killed Aggie. "But he's missing. He escaped from the hotel room. Nobody knows where he is."

"He is most likely dead by now. They will kill him before he can reveal their secrets. Before the Blue Bloods can hold him again. It is as I always feared," Cordelia whispered. "The Silver Bloods are back... Only you can defeat them... Your mother was the strongest of us and you are her daughter..."