Crimson Groves (14 page)

“Ever again!” I exclaimed through gritted teeth. “Do you even realize what happened to me tonight? Back at Pulse?” I swung around to glare at him.

He nodded, the features hardened on his face. “Yes. I saw the whole thing before it ever happened. That guy’s a jerk. He would’ve tried again. He would’ve succeeded.” He sat down, patting the empty cushion beside him. I’m not sure why, but I listened to his invitation, sitting down right beside him. Maybe I still needed to feel close, safe. Maybe vampires do get lonely, just like Bronx said. I, on the other hand, had zero intention of turning Tyler into one of my kind for my own selfish reasons.

We sat in silence for a minute, and then he slowly laid his head on one of the cream-colored decorative pillows propped against the armrest of the sofa. I stood up, giving him room to stretch out his legs and get comfortable. He scooted over, making just enough room for me to squeeze in beside him. The sofa was big enough for both of us to lie next to each other as long as we were spooning. I nestled in behind him and draped my arm over his waist. This time, in the instant we connected, I was in another one of his visions.

Darkness danced with tiny flames as the room materialized in front of me. There were two red leather loveseats set adjacent to each other, dark blue walls, and there was a human man sitting directly across from me. I was in a back room at a donor club. A glass filled with a clear liquid sat on top of a dark wooden table positioned between the sofas. The floor was jet black and textured, perhaps an upgraded carpet. It felt like it had a thick, springy pile underneath. My boot squished further into it as I crossed my left leg over my right.

The human looked up at me and asked, “I don’t mean to be rude, but aren’t you gonna bite me?”

I was completely famished. Why hadn’t I bitten into this donor yet? Getting up from the loveseat, I grabbed my drink and walked over to the man. “Sorry, I must’ve been lost in thought. I’m Abby Tate.” My hand reached out for his, but he didn’t return my friendly gesture. He sat there staring at me as if I needed to get on with things. “Well can you at least tell me what your name is?” I demanded. Zero response; he just stared at me impatiently. By this time my need to eat had extended well beyond my ability to control it any longer. A meet and greet could easily be skipped.

This human obviously had nothing else to say to me. Remorse toyed with my emotions as I grabbed his head. Oh well, it’s not my fault he doesn’t want to talk. He didn’t fight me but he also didn’t help me. I pulled him closer, and while doing so I leaned over him. His body was limp. No anticipation of my bite, no increased heart beat, nothing. My fangs located the vein in his neck and sunk into it. The blood from this inexpressive donor still quenched my thirst. He wasn’t as sweet as Lily, but his blood was making me feel better by the second.

I finished quickly, then laid the donor on his side. Tyler was out in the club waiting for me. I needed to get back to him and get out of here altogether. I couldn’t risk someone that knew Bronx seeing me. Surely they’d turn me over to him without thinking twice. I headed out of the VIP room and down a narrow hallway. Two security guards blocked my way into the main part of the club. They almost looked like twins—short, but still taller than me, and both had stocky builds. They sported shaved heads and the typical black-on-black attire.

“You’re going to need to wait a minute, Blondie,” one of the guards with a New York accent threatened.

“What do you mean?” Hoping that confidence was all that I exuded in my somewhat shaky voice.

The other security guard with a similar accent chimed in, “You heard him. You need to wait here for a minute.”

There was no way I was getting around these two guards that appeared to be former UFC fighters. Old mottled and gray scars decorated their faces from injuries prior to being transformed into vampires. For whatever reason, you brought any old battle scars with you in your new vampire life. Anything on the exterior of the body—even tattoos. New injuries, however, would heal within seconds of infliction without any scarring at all. Any kind of internal issues would also mend, whether old or newly inflicted.

Desperate to understand what was going on, I demanded, “I think you need to tell me what the hell is going on here!”

The guard that spoke first pushed me back against the wall. “I think you need to shut the hell up!”

That movement was all I needed to see past these two morons and into the main area of the club. Tyler was sitting at the bar on the far side of the vast room. He sipped nervously at whatever he was drinking. In a flash the bartender, a vampire, jumped over the bar and grabbed Tyler around the waist and threw him to the ground, knocking two barstools over. I could hear a frantic cry escape Tyler’s mouth as he hit the hard concrete floor. He demanded to know what was going on but no answers were given to him either. As I listened, anger coursed through me.

The bartender began securing Tyler’s hands behind his back with some kind of rope. The other people in the club just stared. No one got involved. No one tried to help.

I needed to help Tyler! Rage unlike anything I’d ever felt rushed through my veins. My chest was tight, my throat constricted. My body seemed to harden like drying clay. I shrugged to loosen my shoulders, rotated my neck until it popped. But the tension was so tight nothing could help ease it. Wait for it, I thought. Don’t act on impulse. Wait for an opportunity. There’s always an opportunity. I concentrated as hard as I could on these two idiot security guards. I was in. I could feel their minds. See their next moves. They wanted to hurt us, kill us, but I couldn’t tell if Bronx was involved, or how they knew Tyler and I were together. But they knew and they meant us harm.

The second guard turned around, watching all the drama unfolding on the other side of the bar. Quickly, I grabbed the first guard’s shoulders, his hands still pushing my back against the wall, and squeezed as hard as I could. My fingers pressed into his skin deep into his muscles. He growled, fangs showing, eyes glaring at me. I jerked him to the side and then thrust him backwards. He flew away, gasping, eyes widened in surprise. He hit the ground hard and stayed down. I knew that wouldn’t last long, that he would heal quickly and come after me. But I took him down. Holy crap! I took him down!

Then his twin sidekick rushed me, but I was faster and dodged him completely. He charged and passed me, like a speeding bullet. His head slammed into the wall, making a loud crushing sound, and blood splattered everywhere. Then he fell to the ground slowly, leaving a crimson trail behind.

Guard number one jumped up, snarling violently, spittle shooting through his teeth, and lunged at me. I flashed to the side, barely missing him, and his clothes brushed my skin as he soared past. He smacked the wall. Blood sprinkled about—a little less than the other guard—and then he joined his unconscious buddy on the floor.

Holy crap! I just knocked both security guards out! I didn’t have long though. They’d be up and after me soon.

I flashed through the club to where Tyler was. Since everyone’s attention was on Tyler and the bartender, no one had noticed my fight on the other side of the bar. Everyone loves watching a good fight—I couldn’t believe they’d missed mine. Oh well, it’s best they did miss it. I balled my right hand tight, rock hard, and then swung it at the bartender’s face. It collided with his cheekbone, crunching and breaking bone, and he flew back a few feet. He crashed to the floor and stayed there. He was out—for now. I sighed deeply and shook my head. I’d just taken out three vampires back to back. That should be impossible, shouldn’t it? These vampires weren’t young like me. There was no way I’d just kicked their butts. But I had. I swallowed hard, smiling.

In the back of the club, there was movement to one side. The twin security guards were standing up, glaring at me and ready to charge. I grabbed Tyler, his hands still bound behind his back, and threw him over my shoulder. Faster than a flash of lightning, I was out of the club, running far, far away.

The computer beeped. I was out of that vision, lying on the sofa next to Tyler. Sleep had finally overpowered him. I pulled my arm away and sat up quick. He didn’t move. He was out cold. I shook my head. That vision. When would that happen? I couldn’t let that happen. Too dangerous—anything could’ve gone wrong. And then everything would be worse, much worse.

I reached forward, fetching the laptop. I brushed my finger across the mouse pad, relieving the beach scene screen saver from its duty. There was a blank gray screen with a few small icons along the bottom. One of them was a mailbox. I clicked it twice and saw an e-mail address, [email protected], with the subject line,
Here is the info you requested.
Highlighting that subject line, I then clicked open and a message materialized:

Abby,

You’ll need to download the attachment and that

should provide you with what you need. I’m still

really worried about you and please don’t do anything

stupid! I mean anything ELSE stupid! Bronx called

here again wanting to know if any of us heard from you.

Adam is all over me, convinced I’m hiding something.

I’ll do my best to cover for you.

Lily

Thank you, Lily! The file download didn’t take long. It alerted me that it was done and I clicked “open” to view it. It was a list of every blood donor club in the entire US. I quickly skimmed over it. There were six of them in Georgia. Four of the six were within an hour’s driving distance. I wished Tyler’s vision would have given me some kind of indication what club we were in. That one would be avoided at all costs.

I read over the four closest options. Brio on Saxon Street, FLIGHT on Herndon Avenue, 7 on Seventh Street, and Red Dragon on Bisby Lane. None of these streets made any sense to me, so I opened another browser and requested Google Maps. I plugged in each address and a little gold star pinpointed their locations on the interactive map. FLIGHT appeared to be closest to Tyler’s house, and that seemed like the most probable one to go to. That must’ve been where that vision happened. That vision—what did it mean? I was able to overpower and escape three brute vampires that were all much older than me. How was that possible?

My thoughts started looping. I didn’t want to get stuck in one of those again. But it was kind of hard not to when you had more questions than answers. I gave a long sigh, slammed the computer shut, and then put it back on the coffee table.

I was up and pacing in a whir of motion. My hunger was growing more intense, rippling waves swirling in my stomach. I couldn’t last much longer without blood. Drinking from Tyler was not an option. What if we found a different donor club but the outcome was much worse than what I’d seen in that vision? I couldn’t risk him getting hurt. He was no match for a vampire. But I had to go—I had to get blood. Somehow I had to convince him to stay home on this one. It was the only way to keep him safe. But why did I have a gut feeling that fighting those security guards would be easier than convincing Tyler to stay home?

11

Must Find Blood

HOURS WENT BY BEFORE Tyler woke up. It was nearly five o’clock at night. The sun would be setting soon, thanks to daylight savings. My hunger for blood was at a level I’d never experienced before, and it was escalating fast. I was worried, with tension building up around my neck and shoulders. I’d already caught myself staring at the vein in Tyler’s neck twice while he slept. It had been hard to look away, but I’d forced myself to do it. I stood by the fireplace, the farthest point in this room from him. What if I lost control to these blood cravings? Was Tyler in even more danger here with me? I swallowed hard, shrugged my shoulders to loosen them. Tyler was waking up, yawning, arms stretched above his head. I took a few steps his way, stopping short, keeping a safe distance between us—at least I hoped. “Good morning, uh, evening,” I said.

A smile stretched out of his yawning lips. “Hey, good morning.” He stood up, walked past me, toward a hallway on the left. “Give me a few minutes to freshen up.”

I nodded. Would a shower make me feel better? I used to love long hot showers, fruity-smelling soaps, and minty toothpastes. When there was more time, I was going to have to experiment with that. Bronx never did any of those things and tried to teach me his habits, but I’d do anything to feel human again. Vampires don’t have to act like animals. We’re not even alive like animals anyway.

Tyler returned to the living room smelling clean, fresh…tasty. He wore black boots, black denims, and a light blue dress shirt with the sleeves rolled halfway up his forearm. His hair was still soaking wet, little puddles all over his shoulders. He walked past me, taking his seat on the sofa. He was holding a damp cloth in one hand, a hairbrush in the other.