New Blood (The Blood Saga Book 2) (11 page)

Both men stood there staring after
her in a bit of surprise. No one had ever seen her move that fast before. Even
for a Vampire it was impressive, Phoenix thought absently.

Immediately after Lianna’s
departure Phoenix stood up to take off in another direction with false hopes to
avoid the two of them completely. Depressed couples playing Romeo and Juliet
held no interest for him. Anna alone was another stor,y but that was
complicated even to Phoenix.

“Phoenix, wait.” Damien stopped him
before he could escape. As he turned back to face Damien, Phoenix flinched
involuntarily. He knew perfectly well what Damien wanted. There was no escaping
it now.

“Yes?” he questioned calmly as he
turned back around.

“This is hard for her. Harder than
she will admit. Please. She won’t accept my help. None of the others can
protect her, and still help her with what she needs to know.” Damien’s brows
were pinched together with his stress.

Phoenix sighed. “Hendrick can
protect her just as well as I can.”

“You saw them in there. She won’t
turn to them. I can’t fathom how, but she seems to trust you considering.”
Phoenix shrugged to the accusation. He knew Damien referred to the first day
Lianna had come to the house. Phoenix did nothing without reason and Damien
knew that. Thus the problem he had understanding.

“I’ll do everything I can to
resolve this. But she’s distanced herself from me already. Will you do this for
me? As my brother?” Damien looked utterly desperate. Of course if he hadn’t have
been then he never would have asked Phoenix for help.

After a moment’s pause Phoenix
nodded solemnly. He couldn’t help but wonder what he had gotten himself into.

“Let me just state for the record,
I don’t believe
anyone
is going about this wisely.” Phoenix frowned
slightly, his hands shoving into the pockets of his slacks as he strolled right
past Damien to the house. “Relax Damien, nothings out there now. Give the girl
some space.”

“And what would you have me do?”
Damien asked as Phoenix brushed past him. The two turned to look at each other
for a long quiet moment.

Finally Phoenix shrugged. “If you’re
right… Then there is no issue. If you’re wrong… Then I am sorry for you. Any
girl worth kissing is not easily kissed, my brother.”

“Sometimes I think loving her may
make me insane.” Damien chuckled darkly, running his hands up over his face
anxiously.

“A great man once said, sadness is
to think of too many things in succession too fast or of one thing too
exclusively. But as I have learned, the most amazing of women will always
demand exclusivity of our thoughts in rapid repetition.” With that Phoenix
turned around and walked back inside, taking the stairs quickly past the
audience watching from the living room while Damien stared off into the woods.

The days came and went even though
we never slept. Damien had spent a great deal of time in the study reading
books and contacting anyone he thought may be able to help us find an
affirmative answer.

For my better judgement, I wouldn’t
ask him about his research. I couldn’t stand to hear that he had no answer. He
spent time with me but it was limited as per my request. Most of my time was
spent in the yard alone with my ear buds in, counting stars I’d never before
seen.

In quick time I had become the plague
of the House. They avoided me at all costs. As a Vampire I had never felt so
human.

Except for Phoenix of course. He
was the only one who had distanced himself from the depressing cloud hovering
above it all, seeming often as if he was completely unaware of any of it. He
was the only one who would take me hunting. No one wanted me to go alone though
either. The others all acted as if I was a ticking time bomb. And perhaps I
was.

As strange as it felt, I’d come to
enjoy hanging out with Phoenix. He would at least talk to me. “So how long are
you going to stay?” It was the first time in so many weeks he had mentioned it.

We walked together through the
woods at a slow pace. A light rain had begun to sprinkle from the sky faint as
mist. It was the first since I’d arrived here. The first time I had seen any
rain since I had become a Vampire.

Taking in a deep breath, I stopped
for a moment to lift my chin to the sky. The mist swirled around me. Glistening
my cheeks and dewing rapidly along my brow. My clothes grew damp. The scents of
the forest grew more prominent. I had missed rain.

It was a long time before I
responded. Phoenix was always patient with me fortunately. “I don’t know.”
Shrug. “Until I can’t stand it. Or until he gives up.” My lips twisted into a
bitter sneer.

Every pater of rain against my skin
I could feel, individually. “He won’t give up,” Phoenix countered with a
chuckle as he brought his hand to my forehead. A single digit traced a stream
of water from my temple down.

“Okay then, when I believe it’s
hopeless I guess.” More bitterness. With a sigh, I stared down at my feet. A
sudden swell of anger coursed through me as the hunger spread along with it.

“Interesting.” Phoenix lips twisted
with a grim amusement.

“Why do you ask?” I still just
couldn’t comprehend how a man went from basically threatening to kill me to
being my only friend. It was strange. Yet I trusted him. It had become easy to
talk to him.

“Simply curious I suppose.” Yeah
right. I knew better.

“Has he... Has he said anything?”
How could I not ask?

“Every day. He asks what we do.
What we talk about. How you’re doing.” Phoenix eyed me curiously with a brow
arched. “Why do you ask?”

My brow furrowed matching my tone
in mock of his. “Simply curious I suppose.”

His head hung back and he laughed.
It was a boyish laugh. It was nice to hear something like that again. It may have
been a grave topic but it was the first I had smiled in weeks. He looked over
to me, grinning ear to ear. Slight surprise showed in his eyes as he looked at
me.

“Can we hunt now? I’m hungry.” My
body felt jittery as my fingers twitched with anticipation. The rain seemed to
intensify the smells around us. Including the prey of our hunt.

“After you.” Phoenix waived his
hand in the direction of the meadow. As he did so I was off running and as
usual Phoenix was always right behind me.

Late that night Damien came looking
for me. He had resorted to contacting Neesa. But that wasn’t why he had sought
me out. Damien had come to me because someone else was attempting to find me.

Paul had been hounding Neesa and
everyone else so much she couldn’t be found without Ryce by her side. So she
knew not to trust Paul. Good. He’d even started going up to Riad’s. Every.
Single. Night. Not being entirely willing to talk to him yet, and not taking
the offer of having him removed as a problem, I decided to email him. It was
the first time I’d used Damien’s laptop. Before then I hadn’t even been aware
they had internet. Phoenix hung out, lingering by the glass wall acting
uninterested, which made me believe he was anything but.

My plan backfired. Within a moment’s
notice I had a return e-mail demanding I call him or he would find the location
where the IP address was coming from and come find me himself. Such an
overzealous human. So, I called him. “Hello, Paul.” Idly, my tongue ran against
the edge of my top right fang.

“Anna! It’s about damn time. What
happened to your old phone? It was disconnected last month.”

“Relax, Paul. I lost it somewhere
in New Mexico. I had it disconnected.” We had the number changed.

“You could have called.”

“I didn’t have your number. It was
in the old phone. Hence no phone calls. I stated all of this in my e-mail. Or
did you not read it?”

“Of course I read it. But you didn’t
have to wait so long to e-mail me, either. Where are you?”

I should have thought about t

his before I answered him. “I loaned
Neesa my laptop. Didn’t have a computer. I’m in Texas.”

“Yeah. Right. You need to come
home,” never had I heard such physical strain in his voice. I wondered if he
was still being controlled or if my murdering demon had just sent Paul so far
over the edge he was never going to return to sanity now. I had a horrible
feeling that was the case.

Just before I’d left my life to go
with Damien, Paul had come to my loft in Burlington. Beckett,one of the dirty
Crossbreeds who’d had a hand in my death had gotten to him. Made him crazed,
and in the only term I know how to explain simply, possessed him. Paul tried to
rape me as he was trying to kill me. He hadn’t really recovered from the
incident well mentally. Neesa had told Damien that his irises were still black.

“I’m not coming home, Paul. I’m
with friends, and we’re going to Mexico on Saturday. The next week, Europe.”
Lies come much easier when your immortality depends on them.

“No you’re not. Fine, if you’re
going to be that way I will just come and get you,” his voice made it sound
more threatening than as if it were an offer for a safe way home.

“You really think you can find me?”

“You’re not in Texas, and you’re
not going to Mexico, and you’re sure as hell not going to Europe. What is this
about, Anna? What are you running from? Listen if this is about that night in
your apartment, I’m sorry but you need to just forget about that, and get over
it. You need to come home so I can take care of you!”

“I have to go, Paul.” Blood pooled
in my mouth. Damien tensed where he sat beside me.

“Cut the bullshit, Anna. This is
really stupid. If you don’t come home within the week I am going to come get
you. Are you stuck there?” Worry. “I can pay for a ticket home.” Generosity
masking desperation. “You can’t leave me!” Anger. “I won’t let you!” Savagery.
With that Phoenix was gone.

“Paul, this has nothing to do with
you. I will come home if, and when I am good and ready. Do not call this number
back. It will be disconnected.” Before he answered I hung up and chucked my
phone across the room. Damien had shot up, catching the phone before it hit the
wall. A second later he was instantly back by my side. He seemed relatively
calm and connected to the world today. Worry seemed to do him good. It gave him
a focus other than chasing ghosts of the past.

“He yells a lot,” Damien tried to
be calm as he commented. It was blatant he would gladly rip Paul to shreds at
any sign of an okay from me. He had been the one to offer. That was kind of
tempting, but I could never go through with it. I couldn’t look at this as Paul’s
fault. If anyone’s it was mine.

“Yes, now he does. He didn’t used
to be this way. He used to be my best friend. I remember it vaguely. He was
always kind. But I guess it’s my fault he’s like this now. After Beckett and
all.”

“You’re not to blame. Love is an
overwhelmingly powerful thing, Anna. It can drive people mad. Obviously.”
Damien had told me once that Paul wouldn’t have been so easily swayed if he was
not already so connected to me. That at some level, Paul was already capable of
such obsession. Time for a subject change!

My gaze settled on Damien. The true
concern was not how dangerous he was to himself. “What would happen if he
really could find me here?”

“He won’t be able to. Phoenix is
taking care of it now. It would take him a couple days to figure it out anyway,
I’m sure. We do take some precautions afterall.”

“Right.” We both let it drop. We
both knew it would be very bad if Paul showed up here. That’s all there was to
it. We just had to hope he was not as smart as I knew he was.