MIDNIGHT CAPTIVE: Book 2 of the Bonded By Blood Vampire Chronicles by [email protected], Gina Henderson Page B

you actually hear my thoughts?”
    “As if you were speaking them aloud. However, as a courtesy to my family and those close to us, I have made a…limited vow of silence, for lack of a better phrase. I can make the effort not to hear thoughts, although emotions tend to linger around some people like a scent.” He chuckled. “With others, it’s more like an odor.”
    The corner of James’s mouth turned up in appreciation at the jest, but the gravity of the issue weighed down his humor. “What other benefits or facets does immortality hold for you?” He should be protesting the very idea, but the fact that Broderick could hear the thoughts in his mind allowed his curiosity to reign.
    “I have the strength of, say, twenty men or more. I heal incredibly fast and can heal others.”
    “Heal?”
    Broderick nodded and grabbed the spare cup Cailin had brought in and set it before him. Grabbing a steel dagger from his belt, he dragged the blade across his palm, slicing it open. The blood from the cut hardly had the chance to drip into the chalice before the wound closed …as if the blade had never touched his skin.
    James’s jaw went slack and he grabbed Broderick’s hand to examine his palm. Neither a scar nor a mark gave any evidence of what James had witnessed. Broderick seized James’s hand and made a small incision in the fleshy part of his palm. Hissing, James tried to pull away, but Broderick tipped the cup, dripping his blood onto the cut…which also vanished as if it had never been. No pain. No marks. After wiping the blood clean with the cloth on the table, he released James’s hand.
    “’Tis not possible,” James whispered as he smoothed his thumb over his skin, back and forth as if that would conjure the cut again or reveal some trace of it. “Fascinating!”
    Another chortle from Broderick drew James’s eyes. MacDougal raised an eyebrow and sneered. “I thought you might find this information of interest with that inquisitive mind of yours.”
    James nodded and grinned, relenting to the appeal of the situation. “I must ask…how old are you?”
    “I was born the fourth day in April of the fourteen-hundred-and-fiftieth year of our Lord.”
    James frowned in concentration, then went slack-jawed once again. “’Tis one-and-eighty years you are?”
    Broderick gave a solemn nod.
    “Are Cailin and Davina also immortal?”
    Broderick shook his head. “Nay, they are mortal as you are. And, in truth, Cailin is not my daughter. Davina was a widow and with child when her husband died. Cailin was but eight months old when I met them.”
    “I never did understand what Davina meant when she referred to Cailin touching your face when she first met you. I thought that an odd thing to say of one’s daughter.” James’s mind swam in a whirl of confusion and wonder, only to have a sobering thought jar him back to the situation at hand. “Why are you imparting such information to me and how does it relate to my future?”
    “’Tis a smart lad you are. Quick to nail the point.” Broderick’s appreciative grin faded and he rose to pace the length of the room. “Wedding my daughter Cailin will mean protecting her.”
    “Of course, sir.”
    Broderick stopped and regarded James. “From another Vamsyrian.”
    James nodded and sipped his wine, waiting for Broderick to proceed.
    “His name is Angus Campbell.” MacDougal resumed pacing. “Our clans have been at war since my youth. I shall not go into the details of our history at this moment, except to stress this.” Standing before James, Broderick leveled his crystal-green gaze at him, a blending of sorrow and anger in his immortal eyes. “For reasons I have yet to truly understand, Angus’s way to me is through those I love.”
    James raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. “What exactly do I need to do?”
    “You need to try to kill me.”
    He downed the last of his wine and smiled. “My pleasure.”
    * * * * *
     
    Cailin paced the length of her