Bloodlines Page 0,129

into me more. The door suddenly opened, and I was grateful that I'd left it unlocked after letting Lee in. Adrian entered, coming to a standstill as he took in the scene.

"Don't come closer," warned Lee, pushing the knife against my throat again. I could feel warm blood oozing from my arm. "Shut the door. Then... sit down and put your hands behind your head. I'll kill her if you don't."

"He's going to do it anyway - ahh!" My words were cut off as the knife pierced my skin, not enough to kill me yet but enough to cause pain.

"Okay, okay," said Adrian, holding up his hands. He looked more sober and serious than I'd ever seen. When he was settled on the floor, hands behind his head as directed, he said gently, "Lee, I don't know what you're doing, but you need to stop it now before it goes any further. You don't have a gun. You can't really hold us both here under the threat of a knife."

"It's worked before," Lee said. Still keeping the knife on me, he reached into his coat pocket with his other hand and produced a pair of handcuffs. That was unexpected. He slid them over to Adrian. "Put these on." When Adrian didn't react right away, Lee pushed on the knife until I yelped. "Now!"

Adrian put the handcuffs on.

"I'd meant them for her, but you coming by might be a good thing," said Lee. "I'll probably be hungry once I'm reawakened."

Adrian arched an eyebrow. "Reawakened?"

"He used to be Strigoi," I managed to say. "He's been killing girls - slitting their throats - to try to become one again."

"Be quiet," snapped Lee.

"Why would you cut their throats?" asked Adrian. "You have fangs."

"Because it didn't work! I did use my fangs. I drank from them... but it didn't work. I didn't reawaken again. So then I had to cover my trail. The guardians can tell, you know. Moroi and Strigoi bites? I needed the knife to subdue them anyway, so then I cut their necks to hide the trail... make them think it was a crazy Strigoi. Or a vampire hunter."

I could see Adrian processing all this. I don't know if he believed it or not, but he had the potential to roll with crazy ideas regardless. "If the others didn't work, then Sydney won't either."

"She has to," said Lee fervently. He shifted so that I was rolled onto my back, still pinned by his greater body weight. "Her blood's special. I know it is. And if it doesn't... I'll get help. I'll get help reawakening, and then I'll awaken Jill so we can always be together."

Adrian jumped to his feet, full of a surprising fury. "Jill? Don't hurt her! Don't even touch her!"

"Sit down," barked Lee. Adrian obeyed. "I wouldn't hurt her. I love her. That's why I'm going to make sure she stays exactly the way she is. Forever. I'll awaken her after I'm reawakened."

I tried to catch Adrian's eye, wondering if I could pass some silent message. If we both surged at Lee together - even with Adrian cuffed - then maybe we had a chance at subduing him. Lee was seconds away from tearing into my throat, I was certain, in the hopes that... what? That he could drink my blood and become Strigoi?

"Lee," I said in a small voice. Too much movement in my throat would result in a bite from the knife. "It didn't work with the other girls. I don't think the fact that I'm an Alchemist matters. Whatever that spirit user did to save you... you can't go back now. It doesn't matter whose blood you drink."

"He didn't save me!" roared Lee. "He ruined my life. I've been trying to get it back for six years. I was almost ready for the last resort... until you and Keith came along. And I've still got that last option left. I don't want it to come to that, though. For all our sakes."

I wasn't the last resort? Honestly, I didn't really see how any other alternative plans here could be much worse for me. Meanwhile, Adrian still wasn't looking in my direction, which frustrated me - until I realized what he was trying to do.

"This is a mistake," he told Lee. "Look at me, and tell me you really want to do this to her."

Cuffed or not, Adrian didn't have the speed and strength of a dhampir, someone who could leap over and disarm Lee before the knife