Dark DNA: A Paranormal Romance (Vampire and Werewolf) (5 page)

“But I don’t know where to find fresh blood at…” she was crying.

Asher lifted a weak hand and stroked her cheek. He smiled at her – she sensed defeat in his eyes. He was giving up. “Asher,” she whispered, rocking him in her lap. “Please, please… please don’t die.” She realized that she couldn’t let her friend die, even if he was a vampire.

Then it dawned on her – exactly what she needed to do to help him. She laid him carefully on the floor, jumped up and ran to the kitchen where she grabbed the sharpest knife she could find. Without hesitation she slid the knife across the underside of her left wrist – blood started to run down her arm. The pain was sharp, but she didn’t even think about that now.

She ran back to him cupping her right palm over the wound. The blood oozed between her fingers and dripped on the floor as she ran back to where he lay amidst the debris. When Asher saw the blood spilling from the wound he gasped. He was weak yet he still worried for his friends safety – but the blood… the blood smelled so good.

“Gabby, no” he said as she leaned over him, pressed her arm to his mouth.

“Here, please, Asher… take some, please. I have plenty and you need it now! Please don’t die…” she pleaded, but he closed his eyes and shook his head, to proud to accept her offering.

He looked up at her with fear in his eyes and her arm by his mouth. “I don’t drink from people,” he whispered.

“Please… Come on Asher, for me – you have to drink. This is all my fault. I told my friend Beth all about you the other day. I’m so sorry,” she was crying uncontrollably now, “I’m so sorry that I lied to you. I just wanted to tell at least one person that I was right. Please, go ahead and just drink it.” She was beginning to get a little light headed and her arm throbbed.

Asher was just about to pass out when his willpower faded and his survival instinct took over. He started sucking at her wrist taking several hard drinks. His body was frantic for her blood and he drew more and more from her. As she weakened, he grew stronger. She felt strangely nauseous, as he drank, getting weaker and weaker – too weak to protest at his consumption.

An eternity seemed to pass to her as he drank – when he opened his eyes finally the color was back in his cheeks and he felt more himself. His wounds were healing too. Gabby now lay on the floor next to him – she smiled at him. Her blood was all over him – it coated his lips and hands and was even on his shirt.

She floated on the edge of consciousness, and didn’t remember anything about what had just happened. He sat her back up against the wall, and she started to slowly cry. Asher tried to wrap his arms around her but she pushed him away even in her weakened state. Suddenly he realized that he was everything she had feared her whole life.

She whimpered quietly as she sat there, just now hearing the sirens of a police car or two in the background, “I can’t do this, Ashe. Please… just leave. Go before they get here… ”

He reached over, scratched his arm and dripped a few drops of his blood onto the wound on her arm and one in her mouth as she sat there crying. He then wiped the drops of his blood across her bloody cut. She was too weak from blood loss to object by now – in fact, she probably wasn’t even aware of what he was doing. As soon as he finished, he started to say something, but changed his mind and silently walked out the door as the sirens got louder and louder. When she opened her eyes a few seconds later she was the only person in the room.

Chapter 10

Gabby was depressed for days after the fight, once she got back from the hospital. They only kept her overnight but that even felt unnecessary to her. When she got out of the hospital she found that her apartment had been cleaned up as best as could be expected. Her bed, desk and kitchen table had been replaced and a new laptop sat atop her new bed.

She had no idea where all these pieces came from. After that she locked herself in her apartment and refused to talk to anybody. She frequently had nightmares now, and the first few nights she was back home, she constantly thought of Asher. His face was always in her mind, and she hurt thinking about him and how betrayed he must feel.

Over the next few weeks she picked up the phone and dialed his number several times, hoping he would answer. She figured that he had left for good and had no idea where he was right now. After about three weeks, on one of her phone attempts, she figured it would go unanswered again, he picked up. She instantly burst into tears when she realized he had answered her call. Once she calmed down, Asher began to speak.

“Gabby, I’m glad you called,” he whispered into the phone. “I know what you’re feeling now. I’m pretty sure it’s because you let me drink from you when I was hurt,” he paused a moment and then continued. “I think we will have this strong connection for the rest of our days.”

“Ashe… I don’t know how I feel,” she protested trying to speak rationally, “but what is happening with me, this is crazy.”

“Gabby… you know… I am not a monster,” he whispered to her, and suddenly the whisper was not coming through the phone, but instead he was sitting beside her, on her new bed. She couldn’t believe her eyes as her phone dropped to the floor.

“I am not a monster… you know that now, even though you have thought vampires to be monsters your whole life,” he assured her as he held her hands in his. “And when I told you the truth about me, weeks ago, I did it because I believed I could trust you… and that you loved me… just like I love you.”

Gabby wiped at the tears in her eyes, sniffled slightly, then shook her head as she looked back at him. “No… you were right,” she managed to admit.

He rubbed his fingertip along her cheek, “So what changed between us?” he asked, his touch made her tremble with desire. All she could think of was having his arms wrapped around her.

“I know now that I was selfish… and I’m so sorry,” she murmured. “I know now that I can never tell the truth about you or your kind – or let anyone know that I was right all along.” She sighed with that realization.

He smiled gently at her, brushing the hair away from her face. “But you know you were right. Isn’t that enough?”

Gabby didn’t know right now if it would ever be enough, not being able to share her historic discovery, but she needed Asher in her life. She did know that. In fact, she physically ached for him – she had never felt this way for any being – ever. As she continued to daydream he reached over and brushed his lips lightly against hers, in the softest and sweetest, of kisses.

“Gabby, your blood… it flows through me now. Not only will it make me desire you with every fiber of my being, but it will also keep us connected forever. But I want only the best for you… so if you tell me now to leave and never return, I promise you, that I will do exactly just that. All you have to do is tell me – my life is in your hands.”

Gabby violently shook her head, “No, no, no… I don’t want you to leave…” was all she could say. Her mind swam and her body burned for another kiss. She knew, without any doubt in her mind, that he was truly the most amazing man she knew – or would ever know.

“Ashe… I would be proud to go anywhere with you… anywhere at all” she finally agreed. “I would gladly give up everything – just to be with you,” she smiled. Then she pressed her lips to his, making him a promise, that she would stay with him forever – never to reveal his secret to another.

Chapter 11

The sun had begun to rise when Gabby awoke to find that Asher was no longer there. “Wha ―” she said, stopping herself from over reacting as she reached for where he once lay.

“Where is he”, she thought to herself. Her mind raced for answers. Had the nightmarish black dogs returned for him through the night? Did he get the urge to suck her dry, like the average stereotype vampire would do, then fled off into the evening, fighting his urge, forcing a persisting hunger low to seek out a victim elsewhere? No. He couldn’t have.

But then again… maybe he could.

She looked over on the nightstand and grabbed her cell, called his number but did not receive an answer. She scratched at her long dark hair and yawned. Maybe she should just lay back down to sleep.

No… she couldn’t go back to sleep. Not now. Not after she’d just gotten him back. Gabby sprung from the bed, got dressed and headed out the door, calling him a few more times in the process.

The streets outside her apartment were empty. The faint wind whistled in her ears as she marched on a journey to who-knows-where. A white Prius passed by her rather slowly once she had turned to walk on a one way street. She followed it with her eyes as it passed, and then looked back to see it was the only thing moving in sight; other than the birds that flew overhead.

A little further up there was a path leading to the park grounds. It was a jogger’s path, but it had always seemed like nobody ever ventured the route except for students during the school week, and this was a weekend. At the end of the path was a dirt road, beyond that a gazebo, where there was more-than-likely to be a beat cop covering the area as they always did.

She thought twice about going through there, the passage was surrounded by a light wooded area. Not too much light in there. Nor would there be anyone else to witness any foul play if there was any, unless the occasional jogger or backpacker happened to be coming through at just the right time.

But with that second thought she’d changed her direction to end up here.

“Ahhh, and look who we have here!” she heard from behind her.

She thought at first that it was him! Asher? No. It was one of those sophomores she’d had a run in with in the cafeteria way back when, the one in a blue button-up with a nasty attitude and rude demeanor. He stood not even a foot away, but how did he sneak up on her without her hearing him? No one else had been ahead of her or behind her either for that matter.

“What do you want?” she asked the rude guy, took two steps back and then gave his hair a quick take. “Oh…”

It finally hit her. It was the color of his hair. She took another threatened step back before she nearly tripped over her own two feet.

Blue button up snarled and stepped forward.

“What do you want with me?” she asked him, looking for some way out.

“We don’t want you?”

“We…?” she replied, completely confused by his remark.

Blue button-up cracked a smile and took another step.

That time she’d seen it in his eyes. He was the real deal and she knew it. He meant to hurt her badly – or worse. She knew she was no match for him, and without any other option she turned and ran for the closest path.

“You can’t outrun me, Gabby!” he called out to her, letting go of a hearty laugh that echoed through the desolate one way street. “ But I’ll still give you a head start.”

No way could her long legs fail her now. There was no turning back from what she had entered, and what she had entered was a reality nightmare. She had to get somewhere people would be able to see her pursuer in motion, and then, and only then, would she be able to reveal his true nature to the public and get the credit she’d deserved for so long.

She made it to the path at top speed. The clearing was nearly a forty twisty-turn yards away and her adrenaline would see her to it. She was not the slightest bit afraid, only anxious, knowing Asher would soon come and save her, as he did a few nights back in her room. He said he could feel her as she could feel him, so for that she feared not.

Gabby hurdled a newly downed log in the center of the path 10 yards in the woods. Losing her balance she used a tree for support as she pushed further through the brush, still not turning back. A freak wind blew and the sun found its way behind some clouds. Thunder rumbled, and the leaves begun to tick, tick, tick.

“How do you like the weather, Gabby?” erupted blue button up’s voice from all around. “It’s to die for wouldn’t you think?”

Now she panted. She was 20 yards away from the clearing. Her clothes begun to dampen, the ticks of rainfall on the leaves picked up speed dampening her clothes. She ran through forming puddles, now becoming desperate to reach the journey’s end.

“I can smell… your… fear, Gabby!” the voice echoed through the woods in the exaggerated tone one would use to intimidate and strike fear into an unworthy opponent.

Five yards away, the clearing was right there. She could see the steam from the summer’s rain rising up from the grasslands. Through it, a white blur. A car passed by on the dirt road before the gazebo. Was it the Prius?

She could hardly see through the density, the gazebo, at the center of the clearing. Was it was empty? She pressed forward.

She made it to the dirt road and began screaming for help as she headed for the gazebo. “Help… please…” she frantically cried out a few more times.

Blue button-up had not made a sound, but she knew he was somewhere behind her.

She was closer now. She had seen the figure of a man in the gazebo. It was the beat cop she had seen so many times in the past. He was wearing a dark blue raincoat with the hood pulled up snuggly over his head. Why didn’t he respond to her pleas?

She couldn’t think about that now. She just needed a witness. He was seated with his back turned to her. She continued to call out as she ran in his direction but she’d still gotten no response from him.

She entered the gazebo and grabbed the man’s shoulder, shaking it. He turned towards her. No! That head movement couldn’t have been possible. It was more like he lobbed his head toward the weight of her grasp!

The look in his face… he was super pale. His purplish and blue veins had been exposed and he appeared to have been completely drained of blood. His eyes were wide, as was his mouth, wide open and drooling blood from the side as his head dropped to the ground. She looked to his balled up fist where he held a cross, tightly gripped in his whitish flesh.

Gabby threw her hands over her mouth and instantly, violently wept. Then she slowly turned around to face the figure behind her.

“Gotcha!” was all the man said.

“Asher,” she whispered.

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