Midnight Blood (Born Immortal) (7 page)

     “You must be frozen dear,” she said to Shayna, handing her a silver mug.

     “Mmm, thank you,” Shayna said and took the mug. “Sid kept me warm for the most part,” she took a sip of the cocoa.

     “If you two need anything else, just let me know,” she smiled at Cain and Shayna, and turned and walked out of the barn.

     “Thank you, we will,” Cain told the sweet old lady before she disappeared out of sight. He looked at Shayna and asked, “Can I tell you anything else Princess?”

     She smiled. He awoke something deep inside of her when he called her Princess.

“How old are you?” she asked, and stepped closer to him.

    “More than three hundred years old,” he answered her.

     She was face to face with him, “What is going to happen to me?” Shayna was glad to have someone she could talk to, and oddly enough, she felt like she had known Cain all her life.

     “You’re going to be fine,” he said, trying not to make it sound like a lie. He didn’t want it to be a lie, he hoped it wasn’t. “You will have to drink blood to survive, not just one or twice a week, like you have been.”

     “Which is why my mom brings the blood home from the hospital, she keeps in the basement freezer?” she asked him.

     “Yes,” he said, “Does your mom know?”

     Shayna mindlessly played with the buttons on Cains shirt and said, “The letter I found from my father, said she didn’t, but he had told her how important it was for her to keep her job at the hospital and always make sure I hade some source of blood at least once a week,” she had never told anyone about the letter, or what it read, and it sounded bizzare hearing herself say it out loud. She frowned.

     “What else did your father’s letter say?” Cain inquired.

     She took a deep breath and let it out loudly, “He said, he would be back for me, by the time I turned eighteen. He had faked his death, because he had been in northern Michigan for too long, and people were starting to notice that he wasn’t aging. He wanted me to stay here, with my family, but that was before my grandparents moved to Canada. He said if he
didn’t
come back, that it would be because he was really dead.

     Cain frowned himself and looked to the ground at her feet, “I’m sorry.”

     “I’m starting to think he isn’t coming back,” a tear fell on to her cheek, “My birthday is in just a couple weeks.

     Cain saw the tear and placed his hand on the side of her neck, and wiped it away with his thumb. His hand was ice on her skin.

“I’m here for you now,” he said looking deep into her eyes. Shayna was in her own
Utopia
“I’ll help you through this, you won’t have to do it alone.

     She was lost in his eyes and speechless. The way he looked at her made her think he was going to kiss her, she was disappointed when he didn’t. He moved his hand away from her and stepped back.

“I should probably get you home,” he said.

Shayna didn’t want to leave, she wanted him to hold her, to tell her everything would be okay.

     She went to Obsidion’s stall to say goodbye to the massive horse. When she walked out of the barn, she could hear him kicking his stall. They got to Cain’s car and he walked to the passenger side and opened the door for her. She sat down on the black leather seat, and inhaled the cars air. She loved the smell of new leather in a car. The seats in the BMW were cold, but they warmed up fast, once the car was running. He drove a lot slower than what Shayna had witnessed at the school.

      “Do you kill people?” she asked him, again catching him off guard. He didn’t like that she was able to do it, but it was the part of her mystique.

     “I have,” he said after a while, “I don’t anymore, that’s what I have the horse’s for, their blood is almost as strong, it doesn’t taste nearly as satisfying, but it works.”

     Shayna looked at Cain in disgust, “What about Obsidion?”

     “Not him, and I value my horses, I don’t take all of their blood,” he shot a look in Shayna’s direction. She didn’t like the sound of what he was saying. “He’s a lot like you, I have to be able to impel his mind, so I don’t hurt him or myself, and I can’t. I get nothing.” Cain smiled at the thought of his horse. “I’ve never seen anything like the two of you.”

     “What do you mean ‘impel’?” Shayna asked, her stomach twisting at the thought of the horses.

     “It’s kind of like mind control, I guess,” Cain admitted, “I impel them into a trance, to calm their minds, that way they don’t get hurt, and the don’t remember what happened either.”

     “Can you do it to humans?” Shayna asked him.

      
“With the exception of one,” he looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

     “Me?”

     “I can’t read your thoughts, I can’t feel your emotions, I can’t impel you, nothing,” he paused then said, “It’s kind of frustrating.”

     “Why would you want to impel
me
?” she asked and glared at him.

     Cain was quick to answer, “I don’t, I’m just saying that even
If
 I wanted to, I couldn’t. I don’t know what it is about you Shayna, but you’re different than any other being that I have ever encountered.

He licked his lips, hoping she did not see his extended canines. His mouth watered for her. The scent of her blood filled his car, and burned his throat.

“I can’t keep myself away from you,” he confessed, “For the last few weeks all I could think about was how to get close to you, and now you’re sitting in my car, and I don’t have any inclining to what is on your mind. And your blood,” he breathed her in deep, and Shayna thought she saw a flash of red is his green eyes, “Your blood is so overpowering.”

     Shayna didn’t know what to say to him, they turned on to her street, and she realized that not once, had she told him where to go, she was more intrigued.

“You’ve known about me?” she said.

     “For a while,” Shayna started to say something, but Cain interrupted her, “Shayna, I am dangerous to you,” he said, and accelerated the BMW, “I crave your blood, your human blood. Do you understand that?”

     Shayna looked out the window and silently nodded her head.

They pulled up to her house and she finally asked, “Do you want to hurt me?”

     “No,” he said. “God no. I don’t think I could ever forgive myself if I ever hurt you.”

     She reached across the car and took his hand, it was so cold. She wondered if she would be the same way.

“Trust yourself,” she told him, “I trust you. You could have taken my blood in the woods today. You’re not going to hurt me,” she held his hand tight, not wanting to let go.

     “You are absolutely amazing,” he smiled and moved a strand of hair away from her eyes. “You’re so vulnarable right now, and you don’t even care.”

     “Not in the slightest.”

She couldn’t move. Cain was so enticing. She was once again lost in his eyes. She wanted to be his princess, and she one hundred percent, believed deep in her heart, that he would never hurt her physically, emotionally, or spiritually.

     She touched his hair. It was soft and hung just below his chin. He leaned his face into her hand. She wanted him, she yearned for his touch. He was right, she didn’t care if he thought he was a danger to her. She knew he wasn’t. Their secrets had drew them to each other.

     They sat in front of her house for about twenty minutes, talking and making plans to go horseback riding. The emotions flooding through her body were indescribable. Her heart was pounding, and she felt like she was going to hyperventilate.

     “Where are we going?” she asked.

     “It’s a secret,” he smiled.

     “I’ve lived here all my life, I know where everything is,” she said with a smirk, “So go ahead and keep your secret.”

     “That’s fine if you do know. I still want to take you there,” Cain said, and gestured past Shayna toward the house, “We have an audience.”

     Shayna looked over her shoulder, and saw Melina peeking through the closed curtains of the big front window. She turned back to Cain.

“What time shall I be there?” she asked him fluttering her long dark eye lashes at him.

     He laughed at this, “Around nine,” he said still chuckling. He took her hand and kissed it, “Farewell my Princess, until Saturday we part.”

     Shayna felt her cheeks burn, “Bye,” she was able to say, but it was barely a whisper.

     She climbed out of the car, and closed the door. She stood on the curb and he slowly pulled away, accelerating the BMW faster, a couple houses down from Shayna’s. She made her way up the walkway, and to the front door. Melina never missed a beat when Shayna opened the door.

     “What is
that
?” she asked Shayna before the door was even closed.

     “What?”

     “You said you weren’t meeting anyone,”she reminded Shayna, “And five hours later you come home with
him
!”

      Shayna smiled, her eyes sparkling, and said, “Funniest thing,” she took her boots and coat off, and sat down on the couch, “I walked into the meadow and he was there, with a horse. The horse had gotten loose and lead him there. I helped him get him back to his house,”  she pulled the blanket off of the back of the couch and tucked it around herself.

     “Uh-huh,” Melina said suspiciously, “You move fast don’t you?”

     “Shut up Mel,” she said annoyed, “I’m not kidding, we have a real connection, and a lot in common,” Shayna couldn’t believe what she was sayin. Is this even real? She wondered.

     “What, you’re
both
beautiful and boring?” Melina said.

     “Pretty much,” Shayna agreed spitefully.

She knew that her and Cain were anything but boring, they made Melina look boring. Although Shayna had always thought that predicatable Melina was a bit boring, anyway. Shayna layed down onto a big couch pillow and pulled the blanket over her.

     “Cold?” Melina asked. “I told you that you were crazy for going out there.”

     Shayna closed her eyes, and thought of Cain, “I would do it again in a heart beat,” she said, getting cozy deeper into the couch.

     “I bet you would,” Melina had a hunch about how her twin truly was feeling about this boy, she had felt it once herself. A car horn sounded outside. “Maria’s here, we’re going to grab a bite, do you want to go?” Shayna didn’t answer, “Shay?”

Melina walked over to the couch and looked at Shayna who was completely unconscious, and snoring a little. Melina smiled and tucked  the blanket around, her sleeping twin, more. She wanted details but they would have to wait. Instead, she left with her friend.

Chapter 4

      Cain walked out of the stall leaving the Quarter horse mare lying in the hay, with labored, but stable, breathing. He found a rag laying on a saddle, and used it to wipe his face. He left the barn and walked into the house to find Aunt Mill, cooking goulash on the stove. She had been with Cain for a few years, he had found her wandering in an alley in Eureka, California. She had been babbling something about the “One”, “The One that would save him.” He couldn’t seem to get rid of her, and beside the fact that he thought she was a witch of some sort, she turned out to be a very, intellegent, wonderful old woman, and he soon came to adore her. She knew what he was from the start, and it never seemed to bother her. She had been the one, who insisted he come to Michigan.

     “Long day dear?” she asked when he sat down. She could tell by his eyes that he had just fed. The red ring around his pupil gave it away.

     He looked at the aging woman, frail, and old, “How am I going to do this?” he asked her. She sat down across from him at the table.

     “Cain dear,” her eyes looked tired, and full of concern, “Maybe you should just stay away from her for a while, at least until she is eighteen. Then you won’t have to worry about being a danger to her,” she suggested.

     “I wish I could,” he said, and looked out the window, “But I can’t. I ache without her. I need her near me physically. As much as I want to stay away from her, and keep her safe, I can’t.”

     The pot on the stove started bubbling over, and Aunt Mill rushed to tend to it.

Cain continued, “I hate myself for putting her in danger like this,” he hit the table hard with his fist.

     “Then why do it, child?” Aunt Mill said, stirring oregano into the pot.

     Cain loved the smells of the food she cooked, he would never eat it, but it smelled delicious.

     “I try,” he scratched his head in frustration, something he had done since childhood,  “She keeps showing up whereever I go. Who would have thought that damn horse would find her out there in the woods, in the middle of a mini blizzard? I was tracking him all night, and then there she was.”

     “That is a little ironic,” Aunt Mill said, and then paused and smiled, “A little poetic too.”

     Cain, lost in his thoughts, finally said, “I’ve been able to control myself so far,” he thought of Shayna’s beautiful face, “As long as I never taste her mortal blood, I think I might be okay.”

     “Hopefully,” she raised an eyebrow at him from the stove. Then suddenly she shook her head, dismissing the thought that he would hurt Shayna, “You know what dear, your right, you’ll do just fine, trust yourself,” she told him.

     “She told me the same thing,” he remembered, “To trust myself.”

     “She seems like a smart, inquisitive girl,” Aunt Mill said, “You’re very lucky Cain.”

     “He’s here, you know?” Cain told her, changing the subject completely.

     Aunt Mill looked at Cain, with wide eyes, “Will he hurt her?” she asked.

     “No.” He answered, “Thank God. But, he will be a nuisance, I’m sure, and try to keep us away from each other. Oh, and he might try to kill me,” he smiled at her, “But, he’s not after her, he’s here to protect her.”

     “From you?” Aunt Mill asked him.