Blood Rose (Blood Books Book 1) (15 page)

Beep. Beep. Beep. The machine blared at me. I swallowed; my mouth was dry, my tongue rough.

“H—Hello?” I said, moving my arms around. I brought my hands to my eyes and peeled off the taped cotton pads. I opened my eyes but instantly shut them again. The light in the room was blinding. Slowly, I began to open them again, allowing my senses to adjust.

The room was illuminated by a dim bedside lamp. I looked around. I wore a hospital gown, and IVs of blood were taped to my arms. I sat up. I grunted as I moved off the cot.

“Hello?” I said again. “Jasik?”

The hall outside my room was dark. I pulled the needles from my veins and dropped them on the bed. Blood dripped from the needles, soaking into the white cotton sheets. I stood and stumbled to the doorway. Pushing open the door, I entered the hallway and immediately recognized it as the basement quarters.

I leaned against the wall as I limped toward the stairs. I crawled up on my hands and knees. I didn’t understand why I was so weak, but I didn’t care. I needed to find Jasik and the others. I pulled myself into the foyer. I called out again, but no one answered. I pushed myself to my feet and fell against a small end table. The front door was open. I reached for it and wobbled onto the front porch.

And I saw them.

Jasik, Malik, Jeremiah, and Lillie were hanging from trees, their torsos split from navel to neck. Their innards were splattered on the ground, where the limbs of our coven mates lay dead. I screamed as I fell to the ground, clawing my way toward them.

“Now, now, Avah. You’re not supposed to be awake yet,” a voice said from behind. His accent was thick, Australian. “I hoped to clean this up a bit first,” he said as a needle entered my throbbing neck.

The world grew dark as my eyes fluttered shut.

I woke screaming and thrashing. Someone grabbed onto my arms, holding me down. I opened my eyes to find Jasik on top of me with fear-filled eyes.

I grabbed onto him and pulled him down to me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, burying my face into the crevice.

“I think… I think I just had a vision. It felt
so
real. You were dead. You were all dead,” I said as tears spilled.

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” he said, running his hand through my hair. “We’re fine.”

“No, you weren’t. You were dead! I saw you! You—You—” I wasn’t able to suck in as much air as I was letting out. I hiccupped and pulled him closer to me.

“Avah, look at me,” he said, pulling away. He cupped my face between his palms, and I met his gaze.  He smiled. “I’m okay. Malik, Lillie, and Jeremiah are all okay. We did it, Avah.
You
did it.”

I wiped my tears away and pushed my lips against his. I kissed him long and hard, unable to stop, to let him go. The dream had been so real. Images of him hanging flashed before my eyes, and I pulled away from him, shaking my head.

“I still see it. I see you hanging. You were cut open. Everyone was dead!” I said, running fingers through my matted hair.

“We did lose some. Maybe that’s what you saw,” he said, trying to reassure me.

“No, it was you.” I nodded. “It was you. And it was real; it was
so
real. And there was… there was someone there. A man. He came from behind. He—he… he drugged me or something. I didn’t see his face.” I groaned in frustration.

“Do you remember anything from the fight?” he asked.

“What? No. I mean, I don’t know. I just remember the man. I can’t think of anything else but that stupid man and his thick accent. He talked to me. He told me I woke too soon. There were things he still needed to do,” I said, looking up at Jasik.

“That man—he’s here. He’s… like you.”

Suddenly, I forgot all about my vision as scenes from the fight flooded my mind. I remembered everything—especially
him
.

“Take me to him,” I said.

“I will, but there are some things you need to know.” His face grew somber as he recounted the facts I had missed while recovering.

Nearly forty-eight hours had passed.

We had lost seventeen vampires from our coven.

Amicia was missing. Her guards were dead.

I opened my mouth to speak but couldn’t find words. I stood in a daze. How had so much time passed? How did we lose so many? Who had Amicia?
What happened?
Somehow, I knew our new visitor had information we needed. I knew he could help us locate Amicia, but I also wasn’t sure he’d give up information willingly. Information meant leverage. I was sure there was something he wanted from us—or just from me.

“Has he said anything?” I asked as we took the stairs to Amicia’s office.

“Only that he’ll only speak with you.”

“He isn’t going to just give up what we need. If he has information, he’ll likely want something in return. After all, it’s pretty obvious we’re desperate. We’ll need to make him talk. There’s no time for negotiations,” I said.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Jasik asked as he grasped the doorknob to Amicia’s office.

I nodded. “More than ready.”

The vampire was sitting at the chair beside Amicia’s desk; the other Hunters watched him closely, ready to strike at any moment. I vaguely heard Jasik enter the office behind me and close the door. I was too focused on the vampire.

He was tall, thin, and had light, sandy brown hair that fell to just below his chin. His skin was pale, his eyes ice-cold, but what concerned me most were the violet irises that found me the moment I entered the room—and never looked away.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Name’s Sebastian, darlin’, and I reckon you’re Avah. Heard a lot about you,” he said with a smile.

“H—How?” I asked, staring into his violet irises.

“How what? How’d I know your name, or how is there someone else like you out there?”

I didn’t know what to say. I had so many questions. There was so much I didn’t understand, but I knew I needed to play my cards right. He had information I needed, and if he was smart, he’d use that to get something in return. I could only hope he was stupider than he looked.

“You see, darlin’, there’s a lot you don’t know. There’s a lot that coven of yours never told you ‘bout this world. I reckon you’ve already figured that part out, though, eh?”

“What don’t I know? How did you know about me? How did you
find
me?”

“Well,” he said, standing from the chair and stretching, “that’s a long story, and maybe if I wasn’t so thirsty and received a little better hospitality, I could tell you all about it.”

I furrowed my brows and stepped forward, angered.

“I want to make one thing very clear, Sebastian: We’re not friends. I don’t know you, and I don’t owe you anything.”

“Now wait just one minute! I
saved
all of you,” he said, pointing to the other Hunters in the room. “And I think that—”

“Well, you thought wrong,” I said, interrupting him.

“You’re a testy one, eh?” he said with a smile.

“We don’t have time for this. Just tell us what you know.”

“I don’t know anything about that priestess of yours. I reckon I got here
after
she was taken. ‘Sides, I was a little busy
saving
all of you. Only stuck around ‘cause I thought that might be worth something. Y’know, like
trust
.”

“I don’t even know you,” I said. “I don’t know that you weren’t helping the Rogues in the first place. You both conveniently found me here.”

“Blechh!” he said as he spat. “Rogues are foul creatures. I would never lower myself to having such tasteless friends.”

“Say I believe you. Then what? What do you want? Why are you here?”

“Long story short: I’m here for you. In case you haven’t noticed, we have just a few things in common.”

“What do you want with me?” I felt my pulse racing. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know the answer.

He smiled, his gaze trailing down my frame. “Well, it’s not too often a chosen one turns. Had to come see you for myself. Thought we could get to know each other, learn some things.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“I’m sure there are a few things you’re dying to know. I turned a long while ago, but let’s see if I can remember,” he said, closing his eyes. “What am I? How’d this happen? Do I still have The Power? Am I still a witch? Will my coven ever welcome me back? What do I do now? Are there any more like me?” He opened his eyes. “Am I close?”

“Very,” I said.

“Thought so.”

“Is this just a guessing game, or do you plan to answer these burning questions sometime soon?”

“It’ll take some time, but I’ll oblige. I have a few conditions, of course.”

“Of course,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“First thing, the hospitality in this place sucks, and I want a room. A nice room. With a view.”

“Oh, certainly. I mean, we wouldn’t want our sun-stricken guest to miss a sunrise.”

His mouth curved into a sideways smile. “There’s so much you need to learn, Avah. I admire your innocence, your naivety. You’ll soon lose both. Enjoy ‘em while they last.”

“The next condition?” Jasik asked.

“Avah and I speak alone,” he said.

“Out of the question,” Jasik said. “And the next condition?”

“Jas—” I said.

“There is no other condition—well, a supply of blood would be fantastic, too, but other than that, I require nothing else,” Sebastian replied.

“You may believe Avah to be naïve, but I am wise beyond my years. Do you truly believe I would ever leave her alone with you?” Jasik asked.

“Do you
truly
believe I would tell her
anything
with you around?” Sebastian asked with a chuckle.

“You guys—” I said.

“You will not be left alone with her. End of discussion. Now, tell—”

“I really don’t think it’s up to you. Avah seems to be the leader of this pathetic excuse of a team,” he said, his eyes glancing from Hunter to Hunter. “She can decide for her—”

“Stop!” I yelled, the earth shaking as power radiated from me. “We don’t have time for this!”

“Now, now. No need to get fussy. If you think we don’t have time for
this
, then you really don’t want to bring about an earthquake,” Sebastian said, crossing his arms.

“You’ll get a room and some blood, but that’s it.”

“Then I tell you nothing, sweet pea.”

“Excuse me?” I said. “I just agreed to two of your three conditions. That’s a win for you. Take it or leave it,” I said.

“Fine,” he said. “Be seeing ya.”

“You don’t seem to understand, Sebastian. Now all I have to do is wait a few more days. I’ll wait until you’re nice and weak, and then I’ll walk right up to you and bite into that sweet Aussie neck of yours. I’ll drink until you’re begging me to stop, because you just can’t take another minute of it.” As I walked toward him, he took several steps back until he was pushed up against the wall. “Sooner or later, I’ll get the answers I need from you. Or you can take the easy route and just tell me what I want to know.”