Blood Will Out: Bloodlines, #1

By Lara Lynwood

I was meant to fight monsters. Not become one.

 

And then I died on a routine vampire hunt gone wrong.

 

Now I've gone from Cassandra Blackthorn, one of the Guild's best hunters, to Cass - outcast, fugitive, inhuman.

 

I don't know what I am. I don't know how it happened. But I do know two things.

 

One - I'm not a vampire. I'm something else - something new.

 

And two - I'm going to find the vampires who took everything from me, and get revenge.

 

No matter what it takes.

Blood Will Out is a fast-paced, action-packed all-slaying-no-laying urban fantasy adventure! If you like badass female leads, mystery, and suspense, then Blood Will Out is for you - get it now!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lara Lynwood
• Release date: Aug 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9798223277880

Book preview

Blood Will Out

Lara Lynwood

Copyright © 2022 by Lara Lynwood

All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

Contents

1.Beginning

2.Awakening

3.Simone

4.Felix

5.Grey

6.The Tunnels

7.Razal

8.Luka

9.History

10.Leaving

11.Influence

12.Darkness

13.Battle

14.Cadeyrn

15.Sword

16.Plan

17.Marci

18.Disguise

19.Phaeron and Viessa

20.Caught

21.Revelation

22.Aftermath

What to read next...

one

Beginning

Cass?

I glanced up from the book I’d been reading, suppressing a flash of irritation at the interruption – it was one I’d been waiting to get hold of, the memoirs of one of the founders of the Guild. Then I frowned – it was Marci, my best (and maybe only) friend. And she wasn’t smiling like she normally would be.

We’ve been called for a hunt, she said. And they’re sending Carmen with us.

That got my attention.

Carmen? I asked, marking my place in the book and setting it aside with a brief, longing pat to the cover. What the hell kind of hunt is this? Irving, the Guild’s leader, didn’t tend to send Carmen on anything short of a full-scale vampiric invasion these days. She was his second in command, and most of the time she was wasted on hunts – the rest of us were more than qualified enough to deal with vampires, but only she and Irving could handle the day-to-day running of the Guild itself.

Marci shook her head, her blonde curls bobbing. No idea, she said, as I stood and followed her out of the library. The only information they gave me was that we’re wanted, and that Carmen is coming – it was one of the trainees, I didn’t want to scare the poor thing more by interrogating her.

I rolled my eyes at that. Marci was too nice to the trainees by half; if they couldn’t cope with a little posturing from a hunter, how were they going to deal with a vampire launching itself at them fangs-first? But it was a well-worn debate between the two of us, and so I didn’t bother bringing it up again.

We headed for the dorms, parting at our own doors – both of us kept a go-bag at the ready, just as any half-decent hunter should, and so it was only a few moments before we met again in the corridor. We exchanged a brief nod and headed in silence to Irving’s office.

I mentally ran over my equipment on the way – stake, absolutely. Silver blades, yes; I had a smaller one tucked inside my boot and a shortsword at my waist. Gun and ammunition, belted at the opposite side to the sword – it wasn’t the stereotypical weapon, perhaps, but times had changed, and we hunters along with them. Guns wouldn’t do much to a vampire without the right bullets, but the Guild had those in spades. It was a common enough trainee punishment, to be set to fill the bullets with the mixture of silver and everything else that the Guild’s mages had long since calculated to do maximum damage.

And, of course, my long black hair was tied back, tucked away so that it wasn’t grabbable – a little vanity was permissible, given my skill, but I was hardly an idiot about it. Yes, I was prepared – of course I was, I kept my go-bag ready at all times. But it had become something of a ritual, to go through the mental check each time, and potentially a lifesaving one. Even if I wasn’t as over-prepared as I’d been as a trainee.

Carmen was waiting in Irving’s office, leaning against a wall. Her face was lined with exhaustion, blue eyes half-closed and silvering hair dishevelled. Irving, sat behind his desk, looked only a little better – he’d clearly been running his hands through his white hair, and though he looked up as Marci and I entered, it was without his usual sharp focus.

Good, you’re here, he said, looking back down at the desk. His gaze flicked over it for a moment, and then he picked up a few bits of paper and handed them to us.

I took a moment to read over the specifics of the hunt. A mated pair, that was bad enough – they drew power off each other, and if you wanted half a chance at taking one down, you needed the other distracted enough that they wouldn’t step in. But it only got worse as I kept reading.

A suburb, one with very few defences against vampires. The Tunnels most vampires lurked in hadn’t been thought to open there, so we had assumed they were low-risk – and assumed wrong, apparently. Shit. Either there were exits we hadn’t known about, or the vampires had been digging again. I wasn’t sure which was worse.

And then, finally, what we knew about the nature of the vampires.

I hissed in a short, sharp breath.

Nobility, I muttered, glancing up at Irving and Carmen. No wonder you’re coming with us, Carmen. Nobility didn’t tend to come up to the surface – they had plenty of thralls to feed on. Which meant that these two were either starving, and therefore even more dangerous, or powerful enough to feel safe toying with their human prey aboveground.

Carmen nodded. Terrible timing, she said, her usually faint German accent thicker than usual. I’m just back from a group hunt out of town. But these two are known.

Oh, this was just getting better and better. Vampiric nobility, known to Carmen and presumably Irving? Bad enough in an area we knew and had resources in. In this no-name suburb, with next to nothing to protect it...

What are we waiting for, then? Marci said, one hand dropping to the sword at her belt.

The two of you, Irving said dryly, and glanced at Carmen. Provided you’re ready, you should leave now.

***

Less than an hour later, I was locked sword to claw with a snarling vampiress. Carmen was nowhere to be seen, and Marci – I’d heard a cry of pain from her direction a few minutes ago. But I couldn’t spare the time to check on her, not with the vampire currently doing her level best to tear my throat out.

Weak, the vampire taunted, her crimson eyes glittering. Weak little hunter, so worried about your allies I can smell it on you. And to think, you could be so much more -

Fuck off, I told her, shoving my sword at her and tossing her back. She landed easily, but it gave me the barest moment of respite – just in time, because her mate was launching himself at my side. I brought my sword around and barely blocked his strike in time, jumping back to get out of his reach.

Where the hell was Carmen?

Alright, two vampires both after me. Two nobles after me. That was fine, I could deal with that. Probably.

If the second vampire was here, that meant that Marci wasn’t occupying him any more. Which meant...

I gritted my teeth, and started to back away slowly, towards where I’d last seen Marci. Leading the vampires to her wasn’t ideal, but nor was just leaving her – at least if I was there, I could offer a little defence in the form of a sword or even a protective circle, if I had time for that.

The vampires followed me, not attacking quite yet, though twice I saw them tense and braced myself for an attack. I had no idea why they were holding off – maybe waiting til they could get both of us? They’d get a nasty shock if they thought either of us would be easy prey. The Guild trained its hunters well. So long as Marci was still conscious and physically capable of holding a weapon, she would do her best to do some damage.

I’d always had decent night vision, and my heart sped up when I took the briefest moment to glance behind me and caught sight of a slumped form against a wall. I couldn’t allow myself to panic, I didn’t have time for that – instead I dipped my free hand into one of the pouches at my belt and tossed powdered silver at the vampires.

It was a last-ditch effort, meant to be reserved for situations like this. And it was effective. They both screamed and reeled back – with any luck it had half-blinded one or both of them. I took advantage and darted over to where Marci was slumped against the wall.

Cass, she bit out. Still conscious and alert, then. But I could smell blood, a metallic tang on the back of my throat.

Tore my leg open, she continued. I can’t move, still got bullets but they’re no use if they’re too close. Carmen’s -

Right here, Carmen cut in smoothly, appearing from apparently nowhere. I felt a surge of relief overtake me – Carmen had been my mentor in my apprenticeship, and we worked well together. Between the two of us, we could dispatch the vampires, even with Marci injured.

Does it need treatment? Carmen asked, crouching on the other side of Marci. I glanced over at the vampires – they were holding back for the moment. The silver had probably worn off, but they were clearly wary of the new arrival, and with good reason. They might not know exactly who Carmen was, but any vampire, even a mated pair, should know to be wary of three hunters. Even if one was injured.

Marci shook her head. Bound it and treated it whilst Cass was handling them both, she said. It’ll hold until we get back.

Carmen nodded, and rose. I followed her.

Let’s handle these two, then, she said, drawing her sword.

The vampires caught sight of it, and one of them hissed in fury – I couldn’t tell which. Then they were on us, and all my focus was on leading them away from Marci without getting injured myself.

I’d ended up with the female again – unlucky given that I was getting the impression that she was the stronger of the two. But she couldn’t draw too much power from her mate, not without leaving him utterly at Carmen’s mercy.

She was strong, even unarmed. I brought my sword up to block a clawed swipe that could easily have torn my throat out, and retaliated with a quick stab at her chest. It would only kill her if I hit her heart dead-centre, but a silver sword through the chest could pin even vampiric nobility for long enough to get a stake or another blade through their heart.

She twisted out of the way, and I cursed as my strike missed her by a hair. Clearly I wasn’t the first hunter she’d faced; the pin-and-stake was a pretty common trick amongst hunters, Guild and otherwise. That was fine. It just meant that I’d have to pull out some of my more underutilised tricks.

Like the knife I grabbed out of my boot when I ducked down under her next strike. I ducked around behind her, lashing out blindly with the dagger, and a vicious grin spread across my face at the screech of pain she gave. I’d hit something, likely something painful by that racket – and she was running.

I hissed out a curse. If she got too far away, far enough that we weren’t a threat to her any more, her mate would be able to draw on as much power as she could give him. That was the last thing Carmen needed, and I didn’t want to join her fighting an overpowered vampire whose mate could come back at any moment.

So I gave chase, which, in retrospect, was not the best idea I’ve ever had.

I followed her through a couple of alleyways, my feet pounding the pavement. I lost sight of her for a second, and pulled up short, glancing around. Distantly, I could hear what might have been Carmen or Marci calling my name – but there wasn’t time for that right now. I needed to figure out where the vampire had gone.

Damn it, where are you? I muttered to myself, turning in a slow circle, trying to cover as much ground as possible with my eyes.

Right here, the vampire hissed in my ear, and I jerked away, raising my sword too late to block her blow. It caught me on the shoulder, a bright wash of pain and more adrenaline flooding through me, and I stumbled back, on the defensive now. I wasn’t sure how much damage she had done, but the injury was slowing me, and she’d caught my sword arm to boot. All I could do as she rained down blows was try and mostly fail to block them, movements growing steadily more sluggish as I took more damage.

I stumbled backwards over something, and I was on the ground, sword jittering away from me across the pavement. And then the vampire was on me, a sharp pain in my throat, and... nothing.

two

Awakening

I woke up.

Which was a surprise, given that the last thing I remembered was a furious vampire coming for my throat.

At this point in my life, it was trained into me to stay still on waking – you never knew if you were injured, or even captured. It was safest to hold yourself still, at least until you could work out where you were and what was going on. The Guild medics were never happy when you ruined their hard work stitching you back together, even if it was a complete accident.

Also, if you were on a multi-day hunt with others, staying still when you woke from a nightmare was potentially lifesaving, both for you and for those you were with.

First step. Open my eyes. I cracked my eyelids open, and immediately closed them again, suppressing a hiss at the brightness. Then I braced myself, and forced my eyes open again. This time I kept them open despite the pain of the light, and waited for them to adjust. It took longer than it should have, but then again, I had just been unconscious for who knew how long, so it was understandable.

Once my eyes had adjusted, and I had stopped needing to blink away the spots in my vision, I took stock of my surroundings. Stone walls, white marble to be precise. It was cold, too, now that I thought about it. I seemed to be alone, or at least I couldn’t see anyone – there was a door on one side of the room, closed and possibly locked from the other side. It was difficult to tell from this distance. There were no bolts, but there was a keyhole, and a keypad beside the door as well.

So, I wasn’t in the tender care of vampires. I hoped. Generally vampires didn’t exactly embrace human technology like electronic keypads. It couldn’t be a hospital either, though – I hadn’t spent much time in human hospitals, but I was fairly certain that they didn’t tend to have white marble walls.

Which only left the Guild. It wasn’t a room I recognised, though. I’d spent more than enough time in the hospital over the course of my training and my time as a hunter, and by this point I could recognise it just by the sharp, antiseptic smell. This place...