New Blood (The Blood Saga Book 2) (16 page)

Never before had he heard the
thoughts of others. But at this time, there were no thoughts before this. He
didn’t know his own name.

Dried blood covered his head and
face as he had dug away at his own flesh with his fingers in desperate attempt
to be free of the insanity that was telepathy. He wasn’t able to heal being so
young, and having never fed.

Stumbling through the streets in
his delirium, he tripped over a passed out drunk behind a tavern. Instinct
bought Damien down right on top of him. The drunk did little more than grunt in
response.

The unfortunate bum had been in a
fight, and thrown out of the tavern after apparently losing. He had dried blood
on his face from a broken nose and something having been smashed down against
his skull.

The smell was overwhelming to
Damien. The liquor, urine, and other putrid odors were suddenly nothing. The
only smell was the blood.

Before he could comprehend his
actions, Damien was licking the man’s face clean. Once the blood was gone he
sucked on the wound on his head. When no more blood would ooze from gash on his
ratty head Damien began gnawing on the wound.

The pain from this caused the drunk
to stir and groan out in agony. As he came around more, the groans turned to
screams as he lashed out against Damien.

Savage from starvation, Damien was
more monster than man. Arms wrapping around him, Damien’s hands clutched to the
bum’s shoulders, shattering the bones instantly. The screams were loud enough
now that soon people would be coming to see what was happening.

He couldn’t stop even if he had
wanted to, but he had to quiet the man. Leaving the bloody wound on his head he
moved to his neck ripping into the flesh deep into the jugular.

Blood gushed out rapidly, soaking
them both as his fangs dug deeper. In seconds he had nearly taken the man’s
head off in his raging thirst.

That night he killed dozens. Men,
women, and children. I saw it all.

The memory faded. Beyond this I
knew what lie in wait. Shayla. I wasn’t ready. Still I wanted more. I couldn’t
give up. I wanted to know how much control I really had. The memories flickered
forward, like a movie reel. Damien was fighting someone, a true fight. Not one
for food. Predator against predator. There seemed only one way to learn how
much control I had over him.

The shock of pain was so surprising
to my body that I pulled back faster than intended with a small cry of pain. Of
course it was my fault. I had focused on making him do it, not the outcome it
would have on me. Every bone in both of my hands had been shattered. His grip
on them had tightened until he’d broken them. It had been nearly instant.

“Shit! Anna, are you all right?”
Damien’s voice quaked. Letting go of me, he was breathing harder than I had
ever seen him. “My God what did I do?” his voice was a whisper. His fingers ever
so lightly traced my own.

Damien’s hands went up to my face.
His eyes narrowed on me as his fingers brushed my cheeks just under my eyes.
When he pulled his hand away there was blood on his fingers. “Your eyes are
bleeding.”

Still mildly stunned, I brushed my
fingers against my cheeks. It hurt to do so as my hands would take a while to
heal. I was exhausted. “I think I need to lie down,” whispered in a hush.
Quickly Damien moved, but he wasn’t gone. A moment later he kneeled behind me,
easing me back to lie against a pillow. He lay beside me, quiet. Unsure.
Staring between my hands and bleeding eyes.

When I looked down at my blood
stained fingers, both my brows rose in surprise. “It wasn’t you. I did it. Well
I made you do it. Least, I’m pretty sure that’s what happened. I wasn’t
thinking very clearly.”

Stretching my fingers out slowly, I
forced each bone to reset so they would heal cleanly. It hurt a lot more than
my facial features showed, but his mind reading gave me away despite my
efforts.

Damien’s fingers gently stroked the
tops of my hands. “I’ve never heard of anything like this before.”

There was a long pause where I
gnawed on my own lip before speaking. “We were so connected. More than I ever
imagined. I wanted to do more. I wanted to push you. To know what I could do
when we were that connected. I had to prove it was me, and make you do
something you would never dream of. So I made you hurt me.”

We sat in silence for a long time.
Damien watched me intently yet seemed a million miles away at the same time.

“Don’t tell anyone else about this.”
What he said didn’t make sense to me. Why would it be so horrible for anyone
else to know? Had what I done been so wrong?

We sat there for a while longer.
Each of us silently thinking about everything that had just happened. We didn’t
talk about what I made him do. It had confused and worried him quite a bit.

Damien was listening closely to the
others. I could always tell when he was focusing on the thoughts of others. He
would get this far away look in his eyes but still seemed completely absorbed.

At last he spoke, “I hadn’t thought
that far back in ages… Hearing other people’s thoughts is quite miserable when
you don’t understand it. As strange as it sounds, I am sorry you had to see all
of that though. Most of my life hasn’t been pleasant. I was quite the monster
when I was young. When I discovered my new nature, I relished in it.”

“We’ll have to find out what is
causing this. I don’t want this hurting you.” Damien stroked the stream of dry
blood along my cheek as he spoke.

“I’ll be all right. I’ll learn to
control it.”

“There is a lot more we all have to
learn,” Damien said as a shadow of pain crossed through his eyes.

“I understand. At the very least I
know there is more. Besides, I have time.” My fingers wiggled slightly. They
were not healing nearly as quickly as I usually did. It was rare for me to ever
feel so tired.

“There is something I need to...” he
didn’t finish the sentence. My body tensed as he said it. I was motionless just
as before. A strange sense of dread washed over me.

Of course I felt no anger toward
him. I was his in so many unfathomable ways, even if I denied it adamantly. Yes
I distanced myself from him. But it was only to protect us both.

Damien had yet to see me clearly.
He could read my mind sure. But he’d yet to see how wrong I was for him. How
destructive I was to his life.

My mind was nearly empty then,
waiting for him to take what he wanted again. All I could hope for was that it
wouldn’t be as painful this time.

After a few long silent moments
nothing had happened. I lift my chin to look up at him. My brow furrowed
together concerned and confused when I saw his expression.

He looked drawn back. As if he had
already heard or seen something he did not like. Something painful. “Damien,
what’s wrong?”

“Anna, what I did before, I had
absolutely no right to do. I hurt you and the worst part was that I knew what
it was doing to you. But I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t control myself. And yet
you wait, willing to endure more. Without any fear. Without any anger. How,
why?”

There were no words...

“I won’t ask your forgiveness
because I know you would give it too willingly. That of which I do not deserve.
Just know that I love you, and I am sorry for ever hurting you as well as
invading you that way. Even if you refuse to be with me again I need you to
know how sorry I am for ever hurting you.”

“You know how I feel about you,
Damien. Surely there must be no doubt for you in that. But… That changes
nothing for us right now. You’ve given me a new life. But the pain of death is
not always a physical thing. Do you understand?”

He nodded slightly. “Good. Will you
hunt with me? I don’t want to bother Phoenix again so soon.” Again he nodded without
words.

Soon as we reached the last flight of
stairs Phoenix was there. Something was wrong. “You’re sure?” Damien cussed
under his breath, running past Phoenix into the great room.

Phoenix stared on at me in silence
as I stood motionless on the stairs. After a moment of gazing at my blood
stained cheeks he looked down to my hands.

Without a word, Phoenix turned away
from me and followed after Damien. My gut was twisted into a violent knot. At a
slow pace, I followed the two.

Jezabell and Damien were yelling at
one another before I made it down the stairs. “We changed the IP address how
the hell would I know how he found her? We didn’t exactly send out an
invitation!” I’d never heard Damien yell before. Eyes wide, I pressed my back
to the wall nearest to the stairs.

Phoenix turned to look at me with a
furrowed brow as he stood with his arms folded between me and the others. He
was angry, but I couldn’t be sure what caused it.

“There is a human on my property,”
Jezabell’s voice was a violent hiss. “This land is protected. This shouldn’t
even be possible! He’s come to
my
House, Damien, and he’s come because
of her!” Her finger pointed sharply in my direction.

“He’s been corrupted by a powerful
Crossbreed, Jezabell. We don’t even know if he’s still human! After what they
did to Lianna anything could be possible.”

I didn’t mean to flinch like such a
coward. Slowly Phoenix turned his attention back to the others.

Lara sat in her usual wing back
chair, staring off into the distance. A vision. I’d gotten the gist of the
situation. Paul was coming.

Jezabell was right. This was my
fault. I had to fix it. Without a word, I quietly left the room as the yelling
seemed to intensify.

Phoenix had been the only one who
seemed to notice my departure. Soon as I’d slipped out the door unseen by the
others, he was walking next to me.

“He’s just a few minutes out on the
drive.” He pulled his black tee shirt off, holding it out for me. “Wipe your
face clean. You’re still covered in blood.”

Shit. “Thank you.” A silent
blessing had been bestowed upon me. The rain had begun again. Stopping a moment,
I held my face up letting each drop splash against my cool skin. It felt warm
like tepid bath water. Picking up such a light soft piece of fabric, my fingers
trembled with pain. This would not feel good.

With a complacent sigh he took the
shirt back from me before I had the chance, and carefully wiped clean my tears.

“You sure you can handle this?”
Throwing the shirt to the ground behind him, Phoenix watched me closely. His
eyes were on my trembling fingers. They hadn’t healed yet. Any pressure, any
movement at all hurt all the more.

“No. I need to feed- badly. It’s
not what you think either so don’t blame him for this.”

“Nothing is ever as it seems,
Lianna. For now I’ll leave it alone. We have more important things to discuss
at the moment.”

I sighed. I so wasn’t ready for
this. He knew it, too. That’s why he was there though. He wanted to help me. “Thank
you for being here, Phoenix,” I could barely whisper it aloud.

He ignored the gratuity. “Try not
to smile. If you do, make sure your mouth is closed. Think human. Move
slow
.
You’re not even aware of how fast you move most of the time. You must be aware
of your every motion. If you must touch him, be careful to use no force what so
ever. As if you are caressing glass.You’re stronger than him now, don’t forget
that. If you’re not careful you will crush him. And whatever you do, don’t
breathe through your nose. Breathe through your mouth to speak. It will still
be difficult. You’ll taste the air around him. But it’s easier to deal with
than the smell.”

“I can’t do this.” My hands were
shaking with pain and now anxiety.

Taking hold of my shoulders, he
turned me to face him abruptly. “Yes, you can. You’re stronger than you give
yourself credit for, Anna.”

His hands moved to my cheeks firmly
staring intensely down into my eyes. “Don’t give yourself over to the demon
inside. I know you can do this,” Phoenix’s words were just as intense as his
eyes. One hand dropped just under my chin in a loose fist. The other squeezed
my shoulder. “Just focus.”

I couldn’t admit it to Phoenix.
Hell I could hardly admit it to myself. It wasn’t just what I might do that worried
me so much. It was Paul. Whatever had been done to him by Beckett, or Demetrius
or Liahm, whoever. They had changed him permanently.

Yes, I’m a Vampire. I shouldn’t
fear anything. But I did fear Paul. I couldn’t help it. Nor could I help the
horrible replaying memory of the last time I’d been with him.

Paul’s black eyes. The stench of
alcohol. The physical pain that shot through my body every time he touched me.
His rough voice calling my name like Beckett had. “Little Anna” The fear overriding
my pain as he crawled on top of me on the bed and forced himself between my
legs. How I fought and kicked. The taste of his blood in my mouth mixed with my
own after I broke his nose.

Phoenix jerked away from me as if I
had hit him. He’d been so focused on me he’d seen it all. I hadn’t had to tell
him.
Shit
.

His eyes clinched shut as utter
rage marred his features for an impossibly long second. Taking a deep breath,
he seemed to compose himself just as quickly.