Page 5 of Bound By Blood
CHAPTER 4
“I saw the bones,”he said more calmly. “I saw a set of small bones in the fire thetownspeople built to kill you.”
“I don’t knowwhose bones they were,” Brie said, “but I escaped the fire. Maybethey burned someone else before me and never cleaned the bonesout.”
“They were thebones of a child.”
Brie held herhands out before her. “I don’t know whose they were, but theyweren’t mine.”
“I don’tunderstand how that’s possible,” Saber said.
Everything he’dever believed was a lie. He didn’t know how to integrate thatknowledge into his life now.
A part of himwanted to hug his sister and tell her how much he missed her overthe centuries, but he couldn’t move as memories bombarded him. Hersmile had always brightened the room, her laugh was a bright spotin his days, and her love had warmed him.
He loved it whenshe’d trounce around behind him, stepping on flowers and makingmore noise than a herd of elephants while he hunted. She’d alwaysgiggle and duck behind a tree whenever he told her to go home.
“I’m not here ifyou can’t see me,” she called back in a singsong, teasing tone.
And while itirritated him at the time, he couldn’t hunt with her trailing him.She scared away every animal in a mile radius, but he found hershadow act adorable.
He’d loved her somuch. She was his sweet little sister who would curl up in his lapand demand he tell her stories while their mother sewed and theirfather watched from his chair.
When she grewtired of his tales, she’d climb down, run over to their father, andsit on his lap while demanding more stories from him. She’d doanything not to go to sleep.
Brie would spendmost of the night bouncing back and forth between them. Often, inthe end, if she wasn’t too tired, she’d regale them with sillysongs. And always, when their mother finally declared it was timefor her to go to sleep, she’d cling to his neck while their motherpried her away.
While her face andvoice faded from his memories over the years, he could stillsometimes feel those tiny arms cleaving to him as she buried herface in his neck. Her cries of, “Gabriel, please save me!” hauntedhim over the years.
At the time, shewas trying to stay out of bed for another ten minutes. Her wordswere so innocent then, but he imagined her pleading for him to saveher while they burned her alive.
He’dloathedhimself whenever those words swam to the surface ofhis memory and buried them again by hunting, killing, and satingthe demon part of him. Except, that monster lurking within couldneverbe satisfied, no matter how much blood and death hefed it.
And in the end,she hadn’t needed him or anyone else to save her; she’d done itherself. But she hadn’t done it unscathed, as the scars on her faceand arms proved. He wouldn’t be surprised to discover those markscovered her body.
“What did they doto you?” he demanded.
“More than shouldever be done to anyone,” Brie replied, “but I survived.”
“When I saw thosebones….” His voice trailed off as he recalled the moment hesnapped.
He and his fatherhad already found his mother’s remains at home. By the time theygot to town, the flames of the fire were leaping high into the air.His father was out of control by then; he didn’t care who he killedor what happened to him, but Saber had retained enough restraint toprioritize finding Brie over his need to make them all pay.
His mother wasgone, he couldn’t save his father, but he could still save Brie ifhe found her.
When theydescended on the town, most villagers scattered as they tried toflee his father’s wrath, but Saber tracked some off them to a stallin the livery. There, through their sobs and pleas for mercy, hediscovered they’d tossed Brie into the fire.
Though he didn’tthink they deserved mercy, he didn’t have time to kill them. Hefled the stable and raced for the fire, but it blazed too high forhim to see anything inside it.
Determined to doeverything he could to save his sister, Saber plunged into theflames. The fire roared as it encircled him, and the flames crackedover his head. Blisters broke out across his body, and skin slidoff one of his cheeks as the fire melted his flesh.
Smoke choked theair, but as he moved deeper into the inferno, he spotted the smallbody sprawled across the embers. Little more than tuffs of fleshstuck to its legs and torso, and it melted before his eyes.
He tried to liftthe body from the flames, but by then, his hands were little morethan bone at his fingertips. With his strength waning, he left hissister behind as he sought to escape the blaze before it devouredhim too. He’d never forgive himself for leaving the small bodybehind, but there was nothing he could do for her.
Breaking free ofthe flames, he stumbled and fell to his knee as fresh air hit hisbrutalized skin. It wasn’t enough; what little remained of hisclothes and hair was still on fire, and so was his flesh.
Unable to see fromthe fire burning his eyes, he followed the scent of fresh water andplunged into the lake. When he emerged, the water had helped easesome of the agony the fire created, but he had to feed.
