New Blood (The Blood Saga Book 2) (19 page)

“Phoenix, it truly has been too
long.” Nekayla stood with her back to Phoenix, staring out the window over the
city from the luxury penthouse suite at the Four Seasons hotel in New York
City.

Pure, raw, ivory colored silk hung
wrapped like a sheath, tied to hang precariously over her breasts, concealing
skin as fine as cream. She could see his reflection in the window and watched
as he admired her. Nekayla was far more than just beautiful. She could have
been the embodiment of perfection in the female form. It’s been said that even
a blind man could see her beauty.

Her full crimson lips pulled into a
seductive smile as she turned to him. Gleaming copper hair curled to her waist
in loose perfect spirals. “I’ve so missed your presence the last years over.”

Her influence was stronger than any
other creature of darkness. No one could deny her directly. Those who tried
quickly ceased to exist. “Come to me, Phoenix.” Her deep emerald eyes locked
onto his as if he were already in her trance.

Slowly one foot drug in front of
the other until he stood against her, breathing her in as if she were the air
he needed to live. His blood was closely tied to Nekayla’s. It wasn’t possible
for him to resist.

“It’s such a pity that after all
this time-” her sing-song sweet seductive voice spoke soft in his ear as her fingers
slid slowly up his chest, “you would try to defy me and go to Maya behind my
back.”

“She’s my maker,” he defended. Nekayla’s
hand slid up around his throat with a feather light touch, before she squeezed.
Her lips curled into a cringe as she lift him high in the air. Phoenix’s
features twisted with a grimace of pain.

He gurgled in response. Her fingers
dug into his flesh slow and deep. “I bow to
no one,
Phoenix. Don’t you
ever
forget that.”

With the slightest flick of Nekayla’s
wrist Phoenix flew into a marble column and slid to the floor. Wisely he stayed
put for the time. It would take nothing for her to kill Phoenix of course. She
just didn’t want to. Yet.

“Of course I know that, Nekayla.
But you have to admit you’ve left me little choice in the matter. Besides, you
must know I never spoke to Maya.” Her eyes narrowed as her arms crossed over
her chest. Phoenix righted himself, though remained sitting. “I only wish to
know your desires at this time that is all.”

“You come on behalf of Jezabell.”
Her lips curled with grim amusement.

He ignored the comment. “Why is it
that you hunt the New Blood and her mate?”

Nekayla turned back to the window,
knowing Phoenix was watching her intently. Certainly her sister’s only blood
child wouldn’t be foolish enough to attempt to harm her. Unlikely, but she was
still wary of his visit. Phoenix was not a man to be underestimated, no matter
how powerful she was herself.

Phoenix waited for her to respond.
Nekayla had yet to answer his question. She moved at her own pace. It was
Nekayla’s perspective that the world bent to her will. Not the other way
around. “I only want what belongs to me. As for the New Blood…”

Nekayla turned back to Phoenix and
in the grace of a single step stood over him. “I will not rest until I have
drained her back to the corpse she rightfully is, and I am left holding her
heart in my hands,” her voice echoed with power. Phoenix flinched at her words
though not in fear. A painful pressure grew within him slowly at Nekayla’s
every word.

“Just what is it that belongs to
you might I ask?” Phoenix chose his words carefully as he looked up to her
fighting back the pain.

Her hand slid down his cheek
slowly. Ice cold fingers brushed his cool skin until she held under his chin.
One nail dug into his flesh as she lift him up to stand before her. “Why,
Phoenix my love, you belong to me. As does D’Tera. He is mine, as you are mine.
And there for you both will be mine and mine alone.”

Her smile was sweet as honey, and
stained in the blood of the dead man still lying on the four poster canopy bed
draped in silks. Her lips, hard as stone, brushed the curve of his chin as she
spoke in an intimate whisper. Lush curves brushed close against him. “You
remember well how I am quite generous to those I favor, Phoenix. I have always
favored you.”

His hands slid over her hips. He
remembered. “Perhaps even as a gift I would give the Descendant child to you
after I turn her… If you come to me willingly of course. You must know how I
have missed you.”

Very carefully, Phoenix pushed her
away, pulling back so he could look down to her. Breaking the contact between
them almost completely aside the hold on her hips. “Maya released me from her
company, Nekayla. I belong to no one. You know well that is how I prefer things.”

His hands slid carefully to her arms
to take her hands in his, holding them loosely in front of his lips. “Why is it
that Damien belongs to you? What ties does he have to your blood?”

Nekayla’s head turned at an angle
as she looked at Phoenix intently. His muscles began to tighten more. Soon the
pressure on his body was so constricting it was paralyzing.

Nekayla pulled her hands from
Phoenix’s grasp as a sinful smile spread over her lips. “D’Tera is no business
of yours. And you, my dear, were never released from
me
.”

Phoenix groaned as she stepped
back. The pain brought him to his knees. The sound of his bones fracturing was
audible. The pain held him frozen in place.

“You’re a very smart man, Phoenix.
You will see my light.
Y
ou will come home to me. You will all succumb to
me one way or the other. It’s much better if you cooperate peacefully, don’t
you agree?”

“And if I don’t?” he questioned
through clinched teeth as blood filled his eyes.

“Then my soldiers will kill every
last one of them until I have what I want. One way or
another
.” Her eyes
narrowed on him viciously. “And in the very end, when she’s watched the murder
and corruption of those she loves, then I will rip the New Blood’s heart out!”
her voice was no longer the soft purr of a devil’s angel. Nekayla was angry.

“Why is it that she interests you
so? She’s a New Blood. She is nothing compared to you,” as he stole Jezabell’s
words, his voice came out rough and cracked as blood seeped from his lips.

Phoenix’s skin rippled as his body
tensed with the physical pressure that threatened to crush him from the inside
out. His bones one by one began to fracture and would continue breaking until
they were all in pieces.

“Of course she’s not!” Nekayla
screamed much like an angry child.

After taking a moment to compose
herself she took a deep breath, and looked back to Phoenix, recovering her calm
exterior. “Let’s just say when I kill something, it had better stay dead.”

Phoenix’s eyes narrowed as he
watched her closely. His voice was barely audible. Blood sprayed from his lips
with each word from the internal bleeding, “Do your sisters know what it is you’re
doing? Do they know of the girl? Where is Maya?”

Slowly his skin cracked, like
fractured stone spider webbing out up his torso. Unable to bare it any longer he
doubled over. Sucking in an agonized breath his eyes turned dark before he
collapsed to the ground, seizing in pure anguish.

“Never question me, Phoenix… Not
ever. You will see my light soon, my love. Go back to Jezabell. Tell her what you
must. Sweet sleep, my darling child.”

Phoenix’s eyes rolled back and his
eyes closed. The pain so overwhelming he’d lost consciousness. “Demetrius!”
Nekayla screamed in frustration.

Doors to a closed off room to the
suite opened. A man with skin black as midnight came to stand by Nekayla,
bowing his head to her. “Get him out of my sight. Be sure to leave him alive.”

It had been two days since I had
found the box left for me on the widows walk. Two days since I had moved from
that very spot on the roof of the house because of it.

I had come to think of it as my
private sanctuary on the property. Only one other person had ever come up here
with me. Everyone else left me alone for meditation while I was here, which I
was grateful for.

The moment I had scaled the side of
the house I had known something was out of place.

Turning had brought about a whole
new world of extra senses. Like warning sirens built into my brain when
something was amiss. Something was wrong. But I never expected to find that
box. Nor would I have guessed its contents.

Phoenix
had been here. Sitting in my usual place was a small black wooden hinge-less
box. Inside, a piece of folded crisp parchment. Wild script sprawled, Until we
meet again.

Under the paper was Phoenix’s stone
sphere.

The last time I had seen Phoenix,
he had been trying to teach me how to block people out. Unfortunately I wasn’t
very good at it.

Although in the process I had
learned other things. Some things about Phoenix no one else here knew. And some
things I wasn’t supposed to know. Things the others had kept from me. Like Nekayla…

I had stayed on the roof top for
two days pondering the meaning of his message and the reason he would leave the
stone with me of all people. It made no sense for him to leave it at all.

There was no way I could find out
for myself what had happened without involving anyone else. A million times I
had contemplated calling Neesa. All she would have to do is touch an object and
she would get a read from it. But no, I couldn’t involve her any further in my
new life. It was too dangerous first of all. I couldn’t be trusted with humans.

And second, if things were as bad
as I believed they were getting, I didn’t want her pulled into anything
dangerous. I was already quite upset that Damien had contacted her for help on
the issue of my possible reincarnation.

There was always the possibility
Phoenix left of his own free will. Simply ready to move on. If that were the
case, could I stay in this house?

Still yet, I couldn’t believe
Phoenix would have left so suddenly without dire reason. And certainly he
wouldn’t have left the soul possession he had carried since the time of his
humanity. A large part of me simply wanted to believe he wouldn’t have left
without telling me. Not that I could prove that.

No matter how much I wanted to deny
it I knew something was wrong without even touching that little black box. He
would never leave anything for me like this unless he couldn’t give it to me
himself. Of course he had never given me anything at all before now so
technically I had no comparison.

I sat there until even my bones
ached with stress and worry. Spinning the hard marble stone in my fingers, I
watched the light dance off of it brilliantly.

Hunger burned the fringes of my
sanity. Blood would clear my head and help me come to some form of
understanding on the situation. Or at least help me deal with it, and figure
out what to do.

Before leaving, I talked to Damien
and Lara, asking to hunt further off the estate alone. Pathetic I had to ask,
but I didn’t want anyone following me either. I needed some space. Plus my
feeding habits were simply too hard on the woodland creatures of Jezabell’s
fairytale forest.

Damien had asked that he accompany
me on the trip. But I just wasn’t ready for the company. Nor was I ready to
explain what Phoenix had left me. He’d left it there so no one else would find
it after all.

Ultimately Lara promised to stay
focused on any trouble I would encounter and convinced Damien to let me go
alone.

I was getting better at hunting. I
made a mess but it was mostly limited to my face and neck now. At least this
time I hadn’t entirely destroyed my clothes that is. I fed on a cougar and a
black bear both before I felt satisfied finally.

Canada was the best place to hunt.
It never seemed short of bear, elk, or mountain lion depending on the area. The
best part being there was nearly no human civilization for miles upon miles in
the right places.

Even still, I hadn’t come to any
better feeling about the situation. The sphere I had kept with me for safe
keeping. It constantly seemed to radiate warmth even as it sat completely
untouched in my pocket.

Silence overwhelmed me. Like one of
those nature shows about predators and their prey, showing how quiet animals
would become when they know they are being hunted. And was I not the greatest
predator in these woods?

The further I walked the more I
seemed to notice the warmth coming from the stone. By the time I reached the
Canadian American border to return home the heat seemed to be steadily
increasing.

Before long it was out right
burning me. “Jeeze!” It was so uncomfortable I pulled the sphere from my pocket
to see what was causing the increasing heat.

The usual diamond like radiance had
changed to that of a dark ruby. Each glittering fragment was blood red.

As I focused on the stone I felt a
tingle run down my spine. The smell of blood waft through the air, drifting to
me from a few miles out. It was Vampire blood… A low snarling groan whispered
through the wind.

Knowing perfectly well I could be
running to meet my death I took off anyway as if I had no choice but to follow.

Phoenix lay on the ground at the
base of a tree. His body contorted in pain. As soon as I saw him I was by his
side kneeling close to him. “Phoenix?” my voice a frightened anxious whisper as
I looked him over. “What happened?”

“Nekayla,” his voice was so strained
I could barely hear him. “I need blood.”

Moving faster than I had ever
before I found the closest animal I could. A fat well fed rabbit hiding in its
burrow. In a second I had ripped him from the earth and snapped its neck to
keep the animal from suffering more than its due. I was back by Phoenix’s side
in mere moments. If I wouldn’t have been so worried about him, I would have
stopped to appreciate the irony.

Phoenix drank deeply until there
was nothing left. Groaning he fell back. Agonizingly slow, each bone began
snapping back into place as he healed.

Phoenix’s skin rippled with the
horrendous effect of powerful magic. As quickly as the bones healed, they were
breaking again. Crying out his hands dug into the earth desperately. “It’s not
strong enough.” He cringed through grit teeth.

“I’ll go find more.” Before I could
stand, his hand clutched to my wrist.

“Stay, please.”

Fissures split his flesh like
ruptured stone every time he moved. “How did she find you?” Trembling, I pulled
him up close to me. As carefully as possible positioning him to lie against my
body. He cringed in pain with every touch and movement.

“Didn’t. I found her.” He groaned
as he lay against me. Phoenix’s hand wrapped my own tightly. Every time he
squeezed automatically because of the pain elsewhere I heard and felt the bones
in his hand break.

“Why would you do that?” His back
arched off of me and I could hear the bones rupturing as he snarled wildly. “Tell
me what to do!”

“No choice. She would have come for
you.” He gasped for breath painfully. “It’s magic. I need blood. Strong blood.”

“Drink from me.” Cradling him
carefully I held my arm to his mouth.

“No. You-” He breathed deeply
closing his eyes to concentrate on his words, “You don’t know what you offer,
Lianna.”

“Damien said Vampire blood is
stronger than human blood. Like concentrated or something,” I was flustered and
rambling. “It can help you. Please drink.” Raising my arm to my fangs ripping
the flesh wide, I held my wrist forcefully to his mouth.

He only fought me for a minute.
Then suddenly with a groan he latched onto me. His hands came up to hold my arm
tightly to him as he drank in the blood with primal need.

I watched his skin ripple and
listened to the sounds of his bones mending as rapidly as they had broken
moments before. His body shook with silent sobs. Vampire blood was more potent
than anything else. I knew that much. I didn’t care if it made me weak. I would
have sacrificed anything if it helped.

Too quickly he pulled away,
gasping. There was still pain in his black eyes as he fell back. Slowly he
raised his head to look at me.

“I shouldn’t… You don’t understand,”
he breathed in a whisper. The strangest feeling washed over me. The connection
was instant as it was intense. Just as I had with the mountain lion the first
time. Just as I had with Damien. I could feel his pain. It was alarming and far
more horrible than I could have imagined. Yet I was also still me.

“Why are you stopping? It will help
you won’t it?” My arm was already healing. The full intake of blood had allowed
me to heal even quicker than usual. Phoenix nodded hesitantly as he grit his
teeth, fighting the pain.

“Then just do it.” My hand came up
to sweep the hair back from my neck, a fingernail slicing through the flesh on
the nape. Blood oozed from the gash.

Too desperate to resist he lunged.
The force of his body startled me as his arms wrapped around me tightly,
crushing me to him. His mouth found the wound eagerly, fangs digging deep into
the flesh almost savagely. One hand slid to my back griping me to him tightly
as his other held to the other side of my neck beneath my hair, holding me to
him intimately.

A low moan rumbled from his chest
as he sucked against my neck. It felt like lightning had struck us together.
Everywhere our bodies touched electricity crackled between us, fusing us
together. Sharply I gasped from the shock of feelings swelling inside of me. I
had never felt anything like it before.

Pure
need
. Pure want in its
most basic desperate form of desire. It was as if we were sharing more of our
selves than I had ever thought possible. It wasn’t his emotions and mine, they
were ours. My hands held to his shoulders as he drank. As he shook violently
from the pain of fighting the magic I held him tighter to try and keep him from
seizing.

During blood exchanged with Damien,
I never paid much attention to much else than the pleasure of being with him.
This was much different. I could feel things from him I had never felt before.
We were connected. If nothing else, for this moment, I could feel everything he
did. And likewise Phoenix had the same connection to me now.

As his shaking began to subside, he
moaned low. His hand that cupped to my neck let his fingers stroke against my
flesh tenderly. His bone crushing tight hold still desperate and needy was
becoming no more than firm and gentle.

“Phoenix? What the hell are you
doing?” Damien’s voice shocked me having been so absorbed to not even hear his
approach.

My stomach twisted strangely,
almost guiltily as I looked up while Phoenix sucked on my neck greedily still. “He’s
hurt,” it was all I could manage to say.

“Let go of her,” Damien’s voice
throttled with a low menacing growl of warning. He stepped closer slowly,
almost in a crouch. His hands by his side looked like he was ready to rip
Phoenix off me himself if he didn’t let go immediately.

With a painful groan Phoenix
released me, falling back with a gasp. His eyes closed when he laid back. I
could feel his endorphins racing still and they were nearly euphoric.

I wondered how long I would feel
these things from him. Opening his eyes, he looked to me with a heavy sigh
fallen from his lips. “What’s going on, Phoenix?” Damien took another step
closer.

Phoenix breathed heavily as his
body continued to heal slow and painfully. “Nekayla,” he whispered faintly, his
eyes still deep crimson as he watched Damien. The pain was still ever present
but he was feeling- if I had to explain it, intoxicated. Damien knew it, too.

Hm, my blood’s intoxicating. Isn’t
that something?

Phoenix glanced up to me and his
eyebrows sort of shrugged. “Lianna, step away from him.” My mouth dropped to
argue shock and anger filling me at the way he was acting. Before I could speak
he snarled. “Now.”