Crave (13 page)

I sighed heavily and stared at the passing wafts of clouds in the sky. The inside of the fort felt incredibly safe. The same way I felt with Elijah. I wish he trusted himself with me as much as I trusted him not to harm me. 

The idea of him out feeding on some innocent bystander should have made me scared, but oddly enough all I felt was a pang of jealousy.

I processed that thought as I pushed myself up from the grass and brushed myself off. I spun around, eying the large stone walls that surrounded me and headed off toward one of the doorways.

I pushed on one of the old wooden doors that stood ajar and scanned the room. It was dimly lit by the moonlight, but I could make out some wooden benches and cabinets. I hesitantly stepped inside and ran my hands along the dusty shelves, taking in the history. I could only imagine the thousands of souls who had passed through these walls. I picked up a pamphlet from one of the tables and walked back into the grassy courtyard to read it by the light of the moon.

Laying on my belly in the open space, I scanned through the pamphlet, not registering the words I was reading. All I could think about was Elijah. Where was he? Who was he with? A sudden wave of panic washed over me, but it was not my emotions I was feeling. It was Elijah’s and he was unable to control his influence. I knew something bad must have happened.

I quickly rolled over and jumped to my feet as he came to a halt in front of me.

“What is it? Did someone catch you?” I blurted out in a panic. Realizing he had let his emotions run ramped, he took a deep breath, more for my comfort than out of necessity. I relaxed as his mood shifted even if I knew it was for my own benefit.

“Everything is fine. I believe I may have been spotted by one of Reid’s allies, but I was able to lose him. We need to leave the area, just to be safe,” Elijah explained, placing his hands on either side of my face. I nodded and he took my hand as we walked rapidly across the courtyard. I was barely able to keep up with his relentless pace.

“Have you fed?” I asked breathlessly as I began running to keep up.  He stopped suddenly and I rocked forward. He turned and caught my shoulders with his hands, keeping me from tipping off balance.

“Your safety is what matters right now. The fact that you are worrying about me,” he snapped angrily. I could tell he was completely frustrated and confused by my concern for him over myself. He ran his hands through his hair and turned away from me again, grabbing my wrist harshly as he began dragging me along toward the wall.

My arm ached from the pressure of his grip. I didn’t say a word. He slid his hands around my waist and guiding me up an old stone staircase and out of the fort before we raced to my car. He opened the passenger door and slid me onto the seat and was inside the car next to me before I could exhale.

Dust flew from the tires as we headed out of the area and back to the main road.

“Where are we going?” I asked quietly. Elijah ignored my question and stepped on the gas. We flew through the back roads on the near-empty streets. His mood was unreadable and I could tell he was purposefully keeping his feelings guarded. I turned on the radio he relaxed as I tapped my fingers to the beat of the song. I watched the trees whip by in a dark blur as we left Savannah.

“That sign said north. Why are we heading back toward Pennsylvania?” I asked, confused. Elijah clenched his jaw and even in the darkness I could see his muscles flex as his face turned hard. “Elijah? Why are we headed toward home?” I pleaded for an answer. He glanced over at me and looked back at the road, his expression unchanging.

“The vampire I met tonight came with a message.” His fingers gripped the wheel tighter causing his knuckles to turn bone white. “They have Grayson.”

I felt the blood run from my face as I took in what he was saying. We rode silently for a few more minutes. I was at a loss for words. “I’m sorry, Eva,” Elijah whispered and I could feel his sadness in the air. I searched for words to comfort him, to tell him it wasn’t his fault, but nothing came. The truth was I was too busy blaming myself.

The car slowed as we pulled into a dimly lit hotel. I glanced at the clock on the dash. It was just before dawn. There was no way we could make it home tonight. I sighed heavily as tears welled in my eyes. Grayson would have to wait another day for us to help him if he could endure whatever torture they had planned.

Elijah left the car and went into the lobby. I let my face fall into my hands and broke down. It was one thing to have been careless enough to put myself in danger, but someone I cared about was too much for me to handle. It was like losing Marcus all over again.

My door flew open, startling me as Elijah stood beside me, his arm outstretched. I took his hand as he helped me to my feet. I suddenly realized how tired I was from lack of sleep and emotional exhaustion. He slipped his arm behind my back and his other under my knees and carried me to our room.

He slid me onto the queen sized bed and pulled my shoes off. I rolled onto my side and curled into a ball as the tears began to burn my eyes again. Elijah brushed the hair from my face and ran the back of his hand over my cheek.

“Please don’t cry. I will fix this. I will keep you safe.”

“It isn’t me I’m worried about,” I confessed, looking up at his face.

“I won’t let anything happen to you,” he replied, searching my eyes. “I will keep you alive at any cost,” he said absolutely. I knew exactly what he meant. He was willing to let anyone die to save my life.
Anyone
.

“I couldn’t live with myself if someone I cared about was hurt because of me.”

“Even if you hate me, even if you never want to see me again,” he began as his dark eyes glassed over in sadness. “I will do whatever it takes to keep you alive, no matter whose life must be lost to accomplish that.” He slipped under the covers and I rolled away from him. There was no use arguing. He wrapped his arm around my waist and I wiggled slightly, letting him know his touch was unwanted. He didn’t move. I closed my eyes and drifted off into a restless sleep.

I awoke to water splashing my face. I gasped and blinked my eyes, trying to adjust to the sudden rush of light. My body was warm, soaking in the midday sun.

“Bout time you woke up,” My dad called from the far side of an endless blue pool.  I clung to the sides of my raft, trying to keep from flipping over as I was overpowered by the smell of the chemicals.

“Dad?” I asked as I looked around, my eyes finally starting to adjust.

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” Elijah joked as he rounded the raft. I wiped my eyes trying to determine if what I was seeing was real.

“Elijah, what are you doing here?” I asked in a whisper. His body was a dark, golden brown from the sun and his eyes sparkled like I had never seen them before.

“Are you alright?” he asked with a look of concern, then spiked a volleyball over my raft to the other side of the water. “You don’t look so well.”

“You’re in the sun.” I called out with such enthusiasm that my raft capsized, sending me swirling in a sea of water. My lungs burned as I struggled to find my way to the surface. I gasped for air as I shot up, water dripping from my face.

***

“You don’t look so well,” I heard again, blinking my eyes open to see Elijah’s concerned face. He patted a wet washcloth across my forehead, pushing my hair from my face. “You’re burning up,” he noted as I held my hand up to block the blinding fluorescent light overhead. My stomach twisted in knots as the pain shot through me.

“Your hand is warm,” I mumbled.

“You had a fever dream,” he whispered.

“Where am I?” I asked, searching the room for some clue to my whereabouts. The heavy door to the room pushed open and a young woman in a white lab coat walked in, my chart in hand.

“Mr. and Mrs. Malakai?” she asked as she leafed through the pages. “My messenger,” she said with a smile, glancing toward Elijah.

“Excuse me?” I asked with genuine confusion and irritation.
How dare this woman hit on my- whatever he was right in front of me?

“That’s what Malakai means, correct?” she asked, proud of herself. Elijah nodded and smiled politely. “Well, what seems to be the problem today?” she asked as she finally glanced my direction.

“My wife is sick. She is running a fever and is complaining of terrible stomach pains,” Elijah explained, his fear wafting heavy in the air. I replayed his words over and over in my head.
My wife
. It would have made my cheeks blush red if I weren't already from my fever.

“Is there a possibility of pregnancy?” The doctor asked, writing in her chart.

“None,” Elijah replied. I noted a sudden sadness in his eyes and it briefly passed through the air like a breeze. A male nurse in sky-blue scrubs entered the room and smiled as he fumbled with cords and wires from the machines beside my bed.

“I’ll run tests just to be sure. I’m sure we will have you up and out of here shortly,” she said, finally glancing up from her papers to shoot me an insincere smile.

She left the room and the male nurse took a seat on a stool beside my bed. Elijah squeezed my hand and winked at me. I smiled, taking in his handsome, chiseled features under several days of stubble. A sharp pain radiated through my arm and I winced. Elijah shot up from his chair, sending it flying back several feet.

He ran his hands through his dark, messy hair and paced the floor. I glanced down at the nurse who was placing an I.V. tube into the needle he had set in the crook of my arm. Hunger radiated from Elijah’s eyes and I could feel it throughout my body. The nurse noted the commotion and eyed us suspiciously.

“He can’t stand the sight of blood,” I blurted out. The nurse smiled, seemingly excepting my excuse.

“We aren’t all made out for this sort of thing,” he said with a small chuckle. “How about you go get yourself a snack or something from the vending machines, down the hall to the left.”

“Sure,” Elijah replied, leaning in to kiss me quickly on the forehead, his lips cold against my hot skin, and left the room. The nurse smiled at me in a way that made me uncomfortable. I pulled the covers up over my chest and relaxed as he took several vials of blood from the needle for testing. I stared off at a painting that hung on the far side of the room.

“That was almost too easy, Friend,” Reid’s sinister voice called from the doorway as he shut it and twisted the lock. He nodded to the nurse as he made his way to my side. The nurse nodded back nervously, handing him the vials of my blood.

Reid held one to his face and inhaled the scent as he closed his eyes and smiled darkly. “How are you feeling?” he asked with mock sincerity as he slipped the vials into his coat pocket and motioned for the nurse to back away. He pulled a wad of cash from his back pocket and handed it to the employee. “You humans are so weak,” he laughed, and I wasn’t sure if he was talking about my fever or the guy he was bribing.

“Sorry,” the nurse said quickly in my direction, avoiding eye contact. I pushed myself up into a seated position and slid back against the headboard, yanking the needle from my arm quickly. The nurse left the room, turning the lock behind him. I was all alone with Reid.

“You have to admit, this is all kind of… funny. Well, maybe not for you.” He smiled at his own deceitfulness as my stomach twisted. “Please understand, I just want what is owed to me. I couldn’t trust Elijah to bring you to me now could I? He has no reason to want Grayson alive,” he explained as if he was telling me about his plans for the weekend.

“We were on our way back to Pennsylvania,” I argued, defending Elijah’s honor. Reid let out a deep chuckle and shook his head.

“Were you?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow. He grabbed the chart the doctor had sat on a table by the door and tossed it on the bed. I glanced over it quickly. Beauregard Hospital, Louisiana was printed across the top of the form.

“How?” I asked, my mind swarming with confusion. Reid pulled up his coat sleeve and examined his watch.

“It’s nearly four o’ clock in the morning,” he said smugly. “It appears your beloved hero was planning on letting poor Grayson die in your place.”

The door shot open with a loud thud and Elijah was on top of Reid in a flash, barely visible to the human eye. I cupped my hand over my mouth to muffle my screams, waiting for the commotion to stop. When it finally did, the door rocked on its hinges as Reid escaped. Elijah stood at the foot of my bed panting heavily, his face smeared with blood. His eyes glanced at the tiny pinhole on my arm the needle had made. He was hungry and void of humanity.

I grabbed the blanket and pressed it against the small wound, trying to mask the smell of my blood. He licked his lips as his eyes narrowed into slits. His hand opened, revealing a vial of my blood he must have gotten from Reid during the skirmish. He bit the rubber seal off and spit it on the floor, emptying the thick crimson fluid into his mouth. His eyes closed as he licked a stray drop from his bottom lip. I watched frozen in fear. He hadn’t eaten properly for days and I knew better than anyone what his hunger does to him.

“Run,” he said with a deep growl. I didn’t hesitate. I leaped off of the bed and flew out of the door without looking back. I wanted to question him about where we were and why he brought me further away from home. I was angry, but most of all I was afraid.