Bloodlines Page 0,130

could do its damage. Adrian also didn't have the power to wield a physical element, say, like fire, one that could be used as a concrete weapon. Adrian did, however, have the ability to compel. Compulsion was an innate ability all vampires had and one that spirit users in particular were adept at. Unfortunately, it worked best with eye contact, and Lee wasn't playing ball. His attention was all on me, blocking Adrian's efforts.

"I made my decision a long time ago," said Lee. With his free hand, he dabbed his fingers in the bloody patch on my arm. He brought his fingertips to his lips, a look of grim resignation on his face. He licked the blood from his hand, which wasn't nearly as gross to me as it would've been under other circumstances. With so much going on right now, it was honestly no more terrible than the rest and just rolled off of me.

A look of total shock and surprise crossed Lee's features... soon turning to disgust.

"No," he gasped. He repeated the motion, rubbing more blood on his fingers and licking it. "There's something... there's something wrong..."

He leaned his mouth to my neck, and I whimpered, fearing the inevitable. But it wasn't his teeth I felt, only the lightest brushing of his lips and tongue at the wound he'd created, like some sort of perverse kiss. He jerked back immediately, staring at me in horror.

"What's wrong with you?" he whispered. "What's wrong with your blood?" He made a third attempt to taste my blood but was unable to finish. He scowled. "I can't do it. I can't stomach any of it. Why?"

Neither Adrian nor I had an answer. Lee sagged in defeat for a moment, and I suddenly allowed myself to think he might just give up and call all this madness off. With a deep breath, he straightened up, new resolve in his eyes. I tensed, half-expecting him to say he was going to try to drink Adrian now, even though a Moroi - two, if you counted Melody - had apparently been on the menu of his past failures.

Instead, Lee pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, still keeping the knife at my throat and preventing me from attempting any sort of escape. He dialed a number and waited for an answer.

"Dawn? It's Lee. Yes... yes, I know. Well, I have two for you, ready and waiting. A Moroi and an Alchemist. No - not the old man. Yes. Yes, still alive. It has to be tonight. They know about me. You can have them... but you know the deal. You know what I want... yes. Uh-huh. Okay." Lee rattled off our address and disconnected. A pleased smile crossed his face. "We're lucky. They're east of LA, so it won't take them long to get here - especially since they don't care much about speed limits."

"Who are 'they'?" asked Adrian. "I remember you calling some Dawn lady in LA. I thought she was one of your hot college friends?"

"They're the makers of destiny," said Lee dreamily.

"How delightfully enigmatic and nonsensical," muttered Adrian.

Lee glared and then carefully studied Adrian. "Take off your tie."

I realized I'd spent so much time with Adrian now that I was ready for some comment like, "Oh, glad to know things aren't so formal anymore."

Apparently, the situation was dire enough - and the knife at my throat serious enough - that Adrian didn't argue. He'd handcuffed his wrists in front of him and, after some complex maneuvering with his hands, was finally able to undo the tie he'd donned for Jill's show. He tossed it over.

"Careful," Adrian said. "It's silk." So, not completely devoid of snark.

Lee rolled me over to my stomach, finally freeing me of the knife but giving me no time to react. With remarkable skill, he soon had my hands tied behind my back with Adrian's tie. Doing so required some pulling and restraining of my arms, which hurt quite a bit after the stabbing. He backed off when finished, allowing me to gingerly sit up, but an experimental tug of the tie showed that I wasn't going to undo those knots anytime soon. Uneasily, I wondered how many girls he'd tied up before in his sick attempt to become Strigoi.

Weird, awkward silence fell as we waited for Lee's "makers of destiny" to show up. The minutes ticked by, and I frantically tried to figure out what to do. How long did we have until the people he'd called