Grey IV - Chains

Chapter 34 - Blood Binds

I opened James' door and saw the same image I had in my mind, or my Sight, for days. He didn't even sleep, just sat on the edge of his bed, watching the door with vacant eyes like a scarecrow. I still didn't feel any current from him, the pleasant sting I used to, but the adrenaline was there, sizzling through my veins. I took a deep breathe and walked in, letting the door close behind me.

"Hungry?"

He ignored me.

"Tired?"

Nothing, not a twitch of a single muscle.

"You haven't slept. Do you still sleep?"

I pulled up a chair to sit directly before him, between him and the door, though his gaze still wasn't focused on me. I put a wall of air between us, like a sheet of plexiglass, like this was visitation hours at a prison. I couldn't decide if that comparison was sad or a little bit funny, but I didn't have any other way of ensuring he didn't try to kill me. Assuming he would ever move again. Maybe Ambriel's power stopped him from doing anything without her explicit instruction. Maybe she had told him to wait for her after the Vampyre den and that somehow still held, even after being captured. Maybe he would just whither away and die unless she gave him permission to live.

I believed less and less what Abby and Malachi said about her influence wearing off, as it hadn't shown any signs of weakening. Maybe as long as any of her was still in him, it could keep spreading, growing, and take him over again and again. Maybe he had to have every drop drained to strain her from him...

"You live in your head too much. It'll get you killed."

I almost jumped at the sound of his voice, at words so similar to the warning he had given me nearly a year ago. His eyes were on me, sharp and intense, and I wondered how long he had been watching me.

"It hasn't killed me yet."

His attention returned to the door, shifting past me once again. After a long pause, he answered, the faintest ghost of a smile playing with the edge of his lips.

"Give it time."

I watched him for a few minutes, keeping my mind quiet, my thoughts blank. He ignored me, back in his trancelike state, so I tested a theory. I thought of Jevin, my hazy memories of him and my servitude, but James' face didn't change. I thought of his father, fixing his face firmly in my mind, but James gave no reaction. I thought of Ambriel, of Kael kissing her in the woods before he stabbed her when she and Malachi ambushed us. And there it was, a tiny jump in the muscle in his jaw, the one I used to watch when I studied him, when I was first trying to understand him, to read him.

That was all the evidence I needed. He was listening in on my thoughts, watching them - at least some of them, the ones that pertained to Ambriel. And that meant we were still connected. It shouldn't have surprised me, we had already spoken in our silent way once before. Just like I couldn't feel his eyes on me anymore, I couldn't feel his mind either. But he was still there. After days of silence, he had spoken to me, and just like the last time, I doubted it was a coincidence.

I felt so stupid once I put the pieces together - because I had been through it before too, something so similar. My own ghost curved my lips as I got up and left. Just as I closed the door, I glanced behind me and saw his angry eyes focused on me once more. I winked, and left, channeling my brother's chaotic energy.

I went across the hall to Ailech's room, but he wasn't there. Then Malachi's door opened and my sopping wet mage emerged, dripping onto the carpet. My eyes dropped before climbing him once, eyebrows coming together as I tried to figure out what the hell had happened.

"Don't ask," he muttered as he squished past me, opening his door and ushering me in.

"It's good to see you up and around. What do you need?" He called from the bathroom's cracked door as he changed, coming out with a towel in his hand to dry his hair. He gave me a weak smile.