Midnight Blood (Born Immortal) (9 page)

     When she felt the burning deep inside of her chest, she didn’t know what to think. It was a sensation that she had never felt before. She could feel it building, almost boiling inside of her. Derrick turned her around so that she was facing him,and pushed her up against the angel statue. The angel’s knee was digging into Shayna’s back, and was quite painful, with the weight, of Derrick’s body pushing on her. He put his hand on the back of her neck and leaned toward her with his mouth open.

     Shayna knew she was going to explode. Something was happening inside of her. She didn’t know what, but she wasn’t scared, and she knew Derrick should be. He’s going to
die. She closed her eyes. She
was
going to explode. The deafening shriek that came next, reminded Shayna of a bird. Her eyes shot open, just as the massive hawk’s razor sharp talons gripped the back of Derricks jacket, and ripped him away from her, throwing him across the memorial. The marble bench stopped his flight, and his body hit the ground hard, with a thud.

     Shayna could see blood on his forehead and she became dizzy. She fell into, what was left of the snow, on her knees. Derrick laid unconscious a few feet away from her, and the hawk was long gone. She put her face in her hands and cried, rocking herself back and forth.

     When she heard footsteps coming from behind her she didn’t look up. She was too embarassed, she just cried. She felt strong hands on her upper arms.

     “Shayna?” a soft musical voice said, “Are you okay?”

     She cried harder. It was Cain. She was so grateful he was there. He turned her toward him, and she melted into his arms, and buried her face in his chest, sobbing even harder.

     “Let’s get you out of here,” he said helping her to her feet, while still holding her close to him. He didn’t ask what happened, he already knew.

     “H…h…How did,” she tried to choke back her sobs, “How did you know I was here?’ she was finally able to get out.

     “Aunt Mill sent me a message to come,” he said walking her through the cemetary, “She said you were in danger, and to hurry.”

     Shayna didn’t ask how Aunt Mill knew, everything was becoming so crazy to Shayna. She used her jacket sleeve to wipe the tears from her face. She didn’t want to let go of Cain, but she needed to use her hands to try to staighten herself up before anyone else saw her.

     “Are you okay?” he asked again.

     She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, “I will be,” she looked up to the sky, “Thanks to some crazy hawk.”

     Cain looked at her ambiguously, “A hawk?” he said.

     Shayna realized she was shaking, “Yes,” she answered.

     “Hmmm….” Cain said and looked forward, and kept walking.

     They got to his car, and he opened the passenger door for her, and  helped her sit down.

      “Stay here, I’ll be right back.”

     Before Shayna could protest, Cain shut the door, and headed back into the cemetary. He returned to the BMW, about five minutes later, but it felt like hours, to Shayna. She had halfway pulled herself together while he was gone, and was anxious to get away from the cemetary.

     They pulled away from the curb, and she looked back at the cemetary vowing to herself to never go back. Her father’s body wasn’t there, so really, she had no reason to return. Cain reached across the car and put his hand on Shayna’s knee.

     “Is he dead?” she asked him.

     “No. Unfortunately he will be fine,” Cain looked at Shayna and said, “Do you want him to be?”    

     “No. Yes. I mean, of course not,” she wasn’t sure what outcome she wanted for Derrick. She knew she didn’t want to have to face him again, “What if he does that to someone else? Or worse, already has?” she asked Cain.

     “He hasn’t,” he answered, matter of fact. “He was drunk, and his attraction to you was too strong, he couldn’t control himself,” he turned his head in Shayna’s direction, “He won’t be drinking anymore though.”

     “How do you know?” Shayna asked him, curious of the answer.

     “I impelled his mind. When he wakes up, he’s going to think he wandered into the cemetary alone, and he won’t even remember that you were here, or that he followed you.”

     “What about his injuries from being thrown by the hawk?” Shayna asked.What a mess. She thought.

     “He’ll probably just think that he got injured falling or something.” Cain looked at Shayna concerned, “Are you
sure
you’re okay?” he asked.

     “Yes, I promise,” she did not lie to him. She had been scared, but the fear had passed, and by the time Cain showed up, she was more scared for Derrick. “Did  you want to kill him?” she asked quietly.

     Cain thought silently before answering, “I wanted to wipe him off the face of the earth. Drain him dry of every ounce of blood in his body. But I won’t be responsible for killing a kid that just needs some good help,” he said, and took his eyes away from the road to look at Shayna again. “I will kill him, if I ever catch him thinking unpure thoughts about you again. I knew I should have watched him better.”

     “What do you mean?” Shayna asked.

     “A couple days ago at school, I passed him in the hallway, and he was thinking about you,” Cain paused, he didn’t want to finish, “He was thinking about you, undressed.”

     Shayna’s stomach knotted up, she was going to be sick, “Pull over!” she cried, and Cain did.

     “We can only stay for a little while,” Cain said, and opened the door to the old farm house he lived in with Aunt Mill. They stepped into the foyer, “But, then I will need to get you home,” he needed to feed, and didn’t want Shayna there while he did. He knew it was ridiculous to be embarassed, but he couldn’t help to not be. “Can I get you anything? A drink or something?” He asked her.

     “Yeah,” she said, and smiled, “Make it stiff.”

     It took Cain a second to realize she was only joking, he smiled at her humor, and excused himself.

“I’ll be right back. You can have a seat, if, you’d like,” he told her, and walked into what she guessed, was the kitchen.

     Shayna didn’t want to sit. She looked around the foyer, and the living room. There were a lot of pictures of Aunt Mill and what was probably her family, a large family, but none of Cain. Of course not, Shayna thought. The inside of the farm house was decorated beautifully. Everything seemed so old, but very well kept. There was an old grandfathers clock in a corner of the living room by the fireplace, which Shayna thought was at least a hundred years old. In the opposite corner there stood a globe of the world that looked as though it could be from as early as the fifteenth century. If they even knew the earth was round then. She thought, and laughed to herself. Everything was so fascinating. A collection Shayna thought must have taken years to acquire.

     Cain returned with a glass of sweet tea for Shayna. Aunt Mill was from the south and always had some around.

     “How’s Sid?” Shayna asked, after taking a long drink.

     “I think I need to just keep him in the barn for a while. So he stays put,” he answered, “Although, he’ll probably figure out a way out of his stall too.”

     “Can we go see him?” she asked.

She had never met another horse quite like Obsidion. She never realized a horse could have so much personality, and Obsidion was full of it. She was axious to see him.

     Cain stood up from the chair he was seated in, “Of course,” he said.

He reached for Shayna’s hand, to help her up from the couch. She smiled at him freely when their eyes locked, and he brushed a strand of stray hair away from her face tucked it behind her ear, and asked one last time, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

     “Thanks to you and the hawk, I’ll be fine,” she answered.

     “But, I didn’t to anything,” he pointed out.

     “But you were going to,” she told him as they made their way to the front door. “And, if you hadn’t shown up, I would probably still be sitting on the ground, in the cemetary, a total mess,” she paused and thought back, “What was he going to do to me?” she asked Cain.

     “You know what he was going to do,” Cain said. He felt he should give her a little bit of a warning to what could happen to her, “And, for you, it would probably be the worst pain imaginable.”

     “Why?” Shayna was curious. She knew she would probably be told things that she wouldn’t want to hear, but she needed to know also.

     “Because of who you are, Shayna Verona,” he hated having to be the one to have to tell her such things. Her father should have done this. He thought.

      When Cain had come to Interlochen, his agenda had not included tutoring, and falling in love with her. It had been the exact opposite. But here they were, walking hand in hand, toward his barn. He knew he would probably tell her almost anything she wanted to know. Almost.

       “You don’t seem to understand. You’re not just any Halfling Princess,” he said Halfling Princess while putting two fingers up on each hand, to make quotation marks. “Your father was a very special kind of vampire. No one created him, he just was. Maybe he was born that way, maybe it was a natural transformation,” Cain said, and shrugged his shoulders, “Who knows.”

     They walked through the tall double doors of the barn, and Shayna could hear a loud banging, and knew it was Obsidion kicking his stall. She smiled, and let Cain continue, as they headed down the corridor to the stalls.

“Your blood is so unbelievably strong and pure because of your father. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of another princess like you. That’s why I don’t really know how your change will go,” he said, and looked at the ground, emarrassed, by what he was about to say to her, “But, I do know that if you lose your virginity before your change, not only will it hurt horribly, but your blood will be tainted.”

     Shayna thought about what he was saying. How does he know so much about me? She wondered. But she didn’t care. In a way, she was glad that she didn’t have to keep her secrets from him.

“Tainted?” she whispered to no one.

     Obsidion pressed his muzzle to the bars, when they walked up, and Shayna rubbed his velvety soft nose.

     “Hey Sid,” she said and gave his nose a kiss between his big nostrils. “You ready for tomorrow? I am”

     She looked at Cain briefly, and then returned her attention to the horse. She had more questions for Cain, but had decided to wait until their ride the next day, when there was less stress. She had taken in enough for one day. Cain watched Shayna and Obsidion in pure admiration of how, two creatures, could be so perfectly beautiful together. He didn’t care what anyone, or any
thing,
had to say about it. They were both his.

     Before he could stop himself, he grabbed Shayna by the wrist with one hand. With the other, he placed it on the back of her neck and pulled her to him, and pressed his lips to hers, hard, passionately.

     Once again Shayna’s knees went weak. Cain held her up, and kissed her harder. Shayna’s body trembled with goosebumps. To say she had butterflies in her stomach, would be putting it mildly. His lips were cold, and he tasted like sweet fruit to her. She returned his kiss eagerly. Something was happening because of this kiss. She knew, when Cain found a bale of hay and sat them both down, that it was happening to him too. He held her tighter, and kissed her harder. Niether one could pull away from each other, even if they had wanted to. Eventually they seemed to be fused together. Shayna had never kissed anyone before this. Besides Noah, and that was, well that was Noah. But she knew, a kiss didn’t feel like this. Cain ran his hand through her hair at the back of her neck, and slowly began to pull away. Gently he traced Shayna’s lips with his tongue.

     Shayna, out of breath, was barely able to get out, “What was that?” she felt paralyzed in his arms, but didn’t want to move anyway, she was where she belonged.

     Cain gazed deeply into her eyes, and held her even tighter, just barely squeezing her too hard.

“I don’t know, my Princess, I have never felt anything like that before.”

     “Was that supposed to happen?” she asked, putting her hand on his chest. She was a little worried, but none the less, wanting to kiss him again.

     “Whether it was supposed to happen, or not, it did. I just hope there are no unforeseen consequences, to whatever that was,” Cain said. He too was a little worried, and tried not to show it. He thought the kiss was truly phenominal.

     “That’s what I worry about, unforeseen consequences,” Shayna told him, “But,” she said lying her head on his shoulder, “That was amazing.”

     Cain’s throat burned. Her kiss had tasted so wonderful, he was losing it, he could still taste her.

“I have to get you home,” he said suddenly.

Shayna noticed the same look in his eyes, that she saw the day at school, when she ran into him coming out of the bathroom.

     “Is everything alright?” she asked. She felt so perfect in his arms, she didn’t want to leave.

     Suddenly, Cain got up, and stood Shayna on her feet too.

“It will be, I just have to get you out of here,” he took her hand, and began to lead her out of the barn.

She didn’t try to stop him. It was his place, and he was one hundred times stronger than her. But she was confused.

     “Cain, did I do something wrong?” she asked, taken aback, “I don’t understand.”

     He stopped and turned, facing her. Rings of red encircled his emerald green eyes. Shayna’s lips parted a little, in perplexity.

“What don’t you understand Shayna?” he was angry, but not with her. “I am a vampire, that craves blood, and you are still human. A human with the most amazing blood, any vampire has ever caught scent of,” he paused, he didn’t want her to think he was angry with her, “Every second I am with you is a constant battle to control my instincts,” his immortal eyes pleaded with her, “So, please Shayna.”

     She didn’t say a word. She continued forward, and Cain took the lead, all but running out of the barn. Seeing his extended canines, behind his beautiful mouth, had excited Shayna. She knew she was in danger.