Blood Ties Book Three: Ashes To Ashes

Bella’s head, limp and heavy on her neck, snapped up. Her eyes, usually preternatural gold, were opaque with blood, her olive skin pale and her lips the blue of a corpse.

As the three of us stared, horrified or dumbstruck or maybe both, Bella’s lips began to move.

But the voice that issued forth wasn’t Bella’s.

It was the Oracle’s.

Four: Oracle

“You have sought me, and now you have found me, children. ”

The voice, which I’d heard outside of my head only once before, sent chills down my spine. Even under Movement control—and heavy sedation—the Oracle had been able to maim Anne, one of Max’s few friends at headquarters, and she’d nearly broken my neck. If she’d been able to hurt Bella from wherever she was, she could still damage us.

Nathan reached for me, snagging my arm and pulling me behind him, as if he could shield me from her wrath.

Bella’s head turned, her blood-occluded eyes fixing on him with startling intensity. “Do not move again.”

“Listen to her, Nathan,” Max warned. “She’ll kill you.”

Her eyes moved to Max. “I know you.”

“Yes, you do. And that’s a friend of mine you’re possessing. ” Max took a step toward her. “And you’re going to have to leave.”

“You fear me, vampire?” Bella’s head sagged for a moment, then snapped up again. “I have no power over you now. Any harm you visit upon me in this form will only hurt her.”

“If you don’t have any power, how are you here?” I asked, trying to keep my tone reasonable. She might have tried to kill me before, but she’d also given me key information in finding Cyrus. It seemed unlikely she’d contacted us so dramatically only to slaughter us where we stood.

“Listen well, vampires. The age of your reign is drawing to a close. Those who resist will be killed. Those who do not may be spared. Chaos shall rule, order shall be abolished. Do not stand in my way and you may live.” Bella’s arm twitched. The Oracle’s control seemed to be slipping.

“What if we help you?” Nathan edged forward. “If we don’t oppose you, we may live. If we help you, will you offer us asylum?”

A laugh filled the air, but it didn’t come from Bella. Her head drooped forward, her body slouching in midair. “You wish to help me?”

“It’s better than dying.” Nathan shrugged, as if he didn’t care either way. “Better than trying to fight you.”

“That path will surely lead to death,” the Oracle warned, her now bodiless voice shaking the walls. “If you wish to gain my favor, abandon your pursuit of the pawn I need to ensure my rule.”

“The Soul Eater?” Max whispered, as if she wouldn’t hear us.

“He goes by many names. Abandon your pursuit of him and you may know my mercy.” Another wall-rattling boom split the air. “Upset my plans and you will know my wrath!”

The wind came again, this time sucking into the dining room as the Oracle’s presence left us. The doors slammed closed, shutting us out, just as Bella’s body dropped to the floor. We heard the noise of her impact, and Max darted forward.

When he grabbed the door handles, he cursed. “It won’t open!”

“She must have meant the Soul Eater.” Nathan rushed forward to help him, but in true Nathan fashion his mind was on the bigger picture. “When you said his name, she didn’t deny it.”

Max didn’t respond, pulling so hard at the door the wood splintered around the handle. “Come on!”

“Let’s try through the kitchen,” I urged, but no sooner did I say it than the doors let go easily. Nathan stumbled backward and landed on the marble floor with a curse. Max, who’d obviously braced himself in the certainty they’d get the door open, managed to stay on his feet. He ran into the dining room, shouting Bella’s name.

I helped Nathan to his feet and hurried after Max. “Don’t move her! She could have broken her neck in the fall.”

It was too late. Max had already pulled Bella into his lap, and was slapping her ashen cheek lightly with his palm. “Bella, come on!” He looked up at me. “Carrie, she’s not breathing!”

“Lay her down!” I caught her wrist as Max moved her to the floor. “No pulse!”

“Do something!” He pounded his fists on his thighs. “There has to be something you can do!”

“Do you know CPR?” I asked, tilting her head back.

Max shook his head. “Only from movies. Tell me what to do.”

“Pinch her nose shut and breathe into her mouth when I tell you to. I’ll do chest compressions.” I turned to Nathan. “Call an ambulance.”

“No!” Max shook his head. “The full moon is tomorrow night. If she’s in the hospital all doped up, she’ll change.”

“Nathan, get the phone.” I met Max’s worried gaze. “If we don’t get her back in two tries, we’re calling an ambulance. ”

Grim-faced, Max nodded.

I’ve always hated doing CPR. Most of my experience with it came from the E.R., on seventy-and-over patients who’d gone into cardiac arrest. Their ribs were usually so brittle from bone loss they cracked like wishbones under my hands.

Bella was built stronger than that, whether by virtue of being younger, or because of her species, I have no idea. I got through the first set of compressions without breaking her bones. “Breathe now!”

Max didn’t hesitate. Bella’s chest inflated with the force of the incoming oxygen, but it fell again when Max pulled away.

I gripped her wrist—still nothing—then began another set of compressions.

At the cessation of compressions, blood traveling through the heart slows. Resuming the process doesn’t bring the circulation back up to speed. It’s like accelerating to seventy, dropping to fifty, speeding up to sixty, then dropping to forty. Bella’s fingernails showed signs of cyanosis. Blue is never a promising color.

But we didn’t have to call for help. This time when Max breathed for her, her body shuddered and she choked to life, taking great, panicked breaths.

“Bella, you’re fine, you’re fine,” I assured her, checking again for a pulse. Though a little slow, it was strong. I nearly sobbed with relief.

“Calm down, baby,” Max urged, brushing her hair back. “Just calm down. You’re fine.”

She opened and closed her mouth, vomited spectacularly, then visibly relaxed, shutting her eyes as her head dropped back to the floor.

“Let’s get her to a bed,” Max said, scooping her up.

Bella’s eyes opened to slits and she laughed weakly. “Always trying to get me into your bed, vampire.”

“You know it.” If Bella’s eyes hadn’t closed again, she would surely have seen the mix of relief and sadness, and the determination not to show them, that crossed Max’s face.

“You take care of her. I’ll tell Nathan not to call the paramedics, ” I offered. Max and Bella needed time alone. If near death wouldn’t inspire them to talk without sniping at each other, nothing would.

I found Nathan in the kitchen, slumped over the island with the phone in his hands. When he looked up, his eyes were rimmed with red. “Is she—”