New Blood (The Blood Saga Book 2) (25 page)

After a minute Phoenix stood,
pulling me up to get me walking with him again. He gave me time to think on the
things he had said. We strolled a while in the quiet. Mostly quiet.

I hadn’t yet mastered the art of
stealth. That’s why Phoenix called me Sticks. You could hear every stick I
stepped on. Crunch, snap, crunch crunch crunch.

“So is it just the blood that draws
people together?” I sucked my bottom lip into my mouth. My fangs didn’t pierce
the flesh as easily these days so no accidents this time.

“You mean you and I?” No. I didn’t.
But I just shrugged, not answering him. His eyes narrowed, but he kindly
ignored my thoughts. “In part yes. Of course there is more to every bond than
just blood, Lianna.”

His brows rose skeptically. “Damien
told you of the bond. Did he tell you anything else? Other consequences? Other
parts of blooding?”

Blooding?
“You can’t mean that there’s more?” I laughed once in dark disbelief.

“Oh yes. Quite a bit more. And
tonight you may see it firsthand which is why I asked.” He sighed, slowing his
pace even more, and speaking low so that only I could hear despite that we were
alone.

“Has he gone over anything about
drinking the blood of someone you were not close to? Or fond of? Draining
another supe to the point of death or drinking their life blood?” His brows
lift questioningly. Curious to see how much he would have to explain.

“Why would I do that? He told me
once that it would hurt more if I were bitten in a fight. What’s life blood?”

Shaking his head, Phoenix snickered.
All I could do was shrug an apology for my ignorance. “Yes, it is comparable to
a human being ripped into by a shark.”

That reminded me of the goldfish to
baby shark analogy I had used for myself once. He laughed hearing the comment. “That’s
just too funny. Piranha, hah. Sorry.” He recovered himself after a second. “Life
blood is the last drop of blood in a supernatural that brings him to the point
of death. Anyway, no it’s not pleasant at all. But the feeling a Vampire gets
from drinking another Vampire’s blood that is their enemy is quite different.

“It’s a drug. It’s power. Raw power
that will give you every bit of their strength. Especially if you drain them
completely. Some become frenzied with it, nearly rabid in comparison. For in
doing so they take that Vampires complete power into them. When you drink from
Damien, or when I drank from you, you were giving me your power which is why it
healed me. Giving is more pleasant than having it taken, however. You could
compare it to sex in that way.”

Shaking his head at a thought not
shared with me, “It’s not as good as it sounds of course- blooding that is.
Depending on the age of the two, how frequently the victor has done so in the
past, and how they have learned to handle it, as well ultimately their sheer
control, in the end the outcome could be very dangerous and very bad. I’ve seen
Vampires go over the edge, losing their sanity to never come back. They make
your Hollywood movies look tame.”

Silently I thought on this, and
shuddered at the images my mind created out of nowhere. “Hell, I sure hope I’m
ready for this.”

“You’re not. The creatures we’re
facing tonight... You need to know that they regularly fight amongst each
other. Many die. But they’re stronger for it as well. They eliminate the weak
quickly, taking what power they had. Even a weak Vampire has more powerful
blood than the strongest human.”

He seemed tense. There was more. I
looked to him expectantly. “They drain the ones they kill. It’s their
tradition. Ironically, they
live
by Blooding. It is how they become
stronger. The one who’s done the most Blooding leads the others.”

There wasn’t a really good way to
respond so I nodded. “So not only Vampires participate in the act of Blooding?”

“Any supe may partake in an act of
Blooding, but primarily only Crossbreeds and Vampires make up the frequent
participants. Vampires are the ones that either benefit or become crazed by it.
Some shifters have a tradition of eating their enemy’s hearts, but that’s
mostly ceremonial.”

More silence lingered. Silence with
Phoenix was never uncomfortable, much like being with Damien. “So are you
happy?” he asked, truly curious once more. Unsure how to answer him, I said
nothing. “Is that a no?”

I shook my head. “Not a no.”

“Then you are happy?” His brow
remained lifted as he watched me, walking slowly through the woods once more.

“Why are you asking me this?” I was
between confusion and disbelief but I almost sounded appalled.

“Curiosity. As I said before, just
because I can read your mind doesn’t mean I always do.” He shook his head, his
brow furrowing as he thought on something that bothered him.

“And when do I get a look into your
head?” My lips curled into a teasing grin.

His voice carried through the woods
in a single hard amused laugh, “As long as I have a fair say? Never.”

“Well that’s not very fair.” I
teased back with a grin I couldn’t help.

“Nothing in life is fair,” he
sounded somber. “Fair is me not forcing you to relive painful memories and
horrific nightmares. Fair is me not hurting you physically with my gifts.” He
grumbled and quickly looked repentant. “Sorry.”

“I don’t think I realized before
how much that bothered you.” I sighed, not sure what else to say. I had
forgiven Damien the moment it started. Even as it had continued, pain or no.

Phoenix stopped. “You’re not
bothered by it at all, really?” he sounded disbelieving and revolted. I couldn’t
speak. “What? Are you used to being treated that way or something?” The way he
looked at me, nearly repulsed made my muscles tighten uncomfortably.

Shrugging, I refused to meet his
gaze. “You read minds. What’s the difference?”

Jerking me to a halt, he pulled me
to face him, holding my forearm. “You don’t listen very well. You’ve no idea
how rarely I read your thoughts, do you?” He scoffed. “The difference is, I
wouldn’t force you to relive things that hurt you like that, and I sure as hell
wouldn’t ever make you feel like you were being ripped apart from the inside
out. I believe those were your words, Lianna.” his voice was harsh but far from
cold. The anger he felt from this had lit a fire in him. “And I am not repulsed
by you. You’re so ridiculous.” His eyes rolled dramatically.

My mouth opened to speak but then
instead of retorting, what he had said sunk in. “Wait, make? He
made
it
that way? He had control over that part?”

It made me dizzy. I looked to the
ground, letting the memory of that night replay in my head. The pain from
reliving the dreams and feeling their deaths all over again. The pain of the
ravaging itself. The physical pain had been more excruciating than I remember
it being when I was human. Suddenly I found myself sitting on the ground.

Kneeling before me, he balanced on
the balls of his feet. “I’m just saying you shouldn’t let anyone get away with
hurting you. No matter their reason or how it is they do it. Or even no matter
who it is, Lianna.”

His face creased into an angry
sneer. “I should have stopped him. I knew he was doing it. I should have
stopped him the second it started. I was being selfish though. I didn’t want
the others to know what I can hear.” Phoenix was angry for allowing it to
happen. “I’m no better than him. That’s half the reason it makes me so angry.
I’m sorry.”

I hadn’t even thought to be angry
about that. It wasn’t his place to protect me. “We should talk about something
else.” Raising my hands, he grabbed them and pulled me to my feet swiftly.
Wrapping my arms tight around my torso we continued on, even slower than
before.

“Yes. We most definitely should.”
He sighed, keeping his pace as slow as mine.

“So tell me this… What keeps you
guys here?” He looked interested. He understood how I meant it. He didn’t seem
the type to put up with someone like Jezabell for so long.

“I am very old, as you know… I think
I just got tired. Tired of always moving, always looking over my shoulder. For
years upon years I was a nomad, roaming this planet unaccompanied. There were
plenty of people I knew, that I would go to see from time to time. But if you
haven’t noticed, Vampires are arrogant. We don’t always get along with one
another. Eventually, Hendrick and I met. We traveled together for some time. Then
one day I ran into Jezabell again. We’d met some years before.” He shrugged,
planning to leave it at that.

“That’s not what I mean and you
know it.”

“She’s got a very secure place
here.”

“Phoenix…” I warned, glaring at
him. “She’d thrown a fit over the idea of Damien leaving before. She wasn’t
just upset she might lose a friend. It was as if she’d been afraid to lose a
possession. And don’t forget I saw what she said to you when she sent you to
Nekayla.” I’d have liked to seen her reaction over the damage she’d done when
Phoenix told her what had happened. I hadn’t asked nor had I seen. In truth, I
wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

“Don’t misunderstand, we often come
and go as we please. In fact, when Damien had been with you in Vermont the only
ones who’d been here was Jezabell and Lara. Hendrick and I weren’t even in the
state when Damien called here for help while you were changing. Lara called us
back.” This sounded like another copout.

“I’m not putting you off, Lianna,
or I don’t mean to be. I understand what you mean. And to be honest, I’m not
sure what causes her intense reaction, be it fear or if it’s something more. I
stay, or keep coming back simply because it’s nice having a place where I don’t
always have to be on guard.”

“And there are some sort of wards
that allows this place to be so secure?”

“Ah, the wards. Yes, she pays
dearly to a group of powerful Descendants to keep the property invisible to
those who don’t know it’s here.” I looked down, wondering why feeding would
intervene with such a thing. He sighed. “It’s a very delicate shield that keeps
humans and supes alike from seeing it or crossing it, which is why Nekayla’s
people haven’t crossed the border.”

“And then I broke them, and then
Paul came, and Ryce… Why didn’t she have them put back up?”

“Can’t be done just any time. That
type of shield is specifically crafted. It’s complicated.”

I didn’t want any further
explanation. “Then why haven’t her people crossed it? I know Hendrick’s been
vigilant in watching for signs of them.”

“I imagine they either don’t know
it’s broken or think it’s a trap. It’s almost too convenient to believe it wasn’t
done on purpose.”

We walked on in silence through the
broken land for a long time. My thoughts twisted and pitched, thinking about
how I would handle tonight. It felt like I kept hitting a brick wall. They’d
said be ready, but I didn’t know exactly what to be ready for. “Tell me more
about tonight.”

“What would you like to know?” his tone
had taken a bitter quality.

“Everything.” I shrugged with a
sigh. “The way you and Damien talk, we barely have a chance because I don’t
know what to expect.”

“A fight. A fight where they will
come at us from every side, and hit us full force as one. I wish I’d been able
to teach you more, but Damien and I will keep close to you. You’ll be fine.”

Stopping, I looked up at him, our
gaze locked on one another intensely. “And if something goes wrong, if we’re
separated? If there’s too many?” My hand took a hold of his wrist. “Teach me.
You said I wasn’t ready. So make me ready. I know you can.”

Phoenix knew what I asked for
though he evaded the subject. “It’s not easy to give a crash course on fighting
these creatures. Their abilities. What they’ll do. What they may do. The best
ways to fight them and still be able to defend yourself from them.”

I could feel his hesitation
physically. “I’m not ready to die yet.” He flinched at my casual tone. “Haven’t
I proven that two different times now? If you’re willing, I am.” Staring at me
in silence for an immeasurable length of time, his hand took mine, pulling my
fingers from his wrist.

“You know that I am.” His lips
pulled into just the slightest smile. Yes, I knew. I could feel it. “But are
you really?” It would complete the bond. His brow lift as he leaned closer,
almost daring me to answer.

Unable to respond at all I stood
there staring at him. His hand came up, fingers brushing the strands of hair
that fell from behind my ear and tucked them back.

His wrist so close to my face I
could see the veins and smell the sweet crimson liquid concealed beneath his
cool flesh. Letting his thumb stroke my cheek, he held his hand there. All I
had to do was turn my head. Swallowing on my suddenly dry throat, our eyes were
locked. Phoenix’s radiant blue eyes were an inch from my own. That smug smirk
still tugged at his lips. “No, I didn’t think so,” he said after a moment of
pause.

My hand caught his arm as he
straightened to pull away. His hand had just started to lower. Phoenix’s brow
lifted with surprise as I held his arm and turned my head into his wrist.
Instantly he stood closer, almost protectively surrounding me in his embrace as
my mouth hovered over his skin.

Eyes closing, my lips parted
slowly, fangs grazing his cold white flesh. As I pierced his skin it sounded as
if a thin sheet of rock had broken against my fangs. With age, came strength.
In every way.

Groaning deeply, his other hand
came around to lie against the back of my neck, kneading firmly. I could feel
his cool breath against my cheek.

What came next I never could have
prepared myself for. An onslaught of memories, thoughts, experiences and knowledge.
More information than I should have been able to process, but I managed in
perfect succession.

His blood wasn’t just fulfilling,
it was
powerful
. Invigorating. Enriching. Strength in physical ways and
then so much more. And in some ways this was every bit as intimate as I had
ever been with Damien.

His head leaned down resting on my
shoulder as if he couldn’t hold it up of his own accord. What only lasted a
mere minute, felt as if it lasted for hours. Every fight he’d ever taken on,
the knowledge passed into me.

Again he moaned as my fangs slowly
pulled from his wrist. My tongue and mouth suckling against the open flesh as
it rapidly closed. There wasn’t even a red stain left when I pulled my lips
from his skin.

“And so it is forevermore,” I
whispered in a breath. I could feel the bond complete itself. Just as it was
with Damien and me. What a triangular mess I had just created. It was a strange
feeling knowing that I should regret this. But I couldn’t.

Phoenix’s hand wove up through my
hair, pulling out my ponytail. Lifting his head up from the crook of my neck he
kissed against my forehead, holding his lips there for a long moment.
Swallowing, he looked down at me in amazement. “You’re just full of surprises
it seems.”

Stretching the black band he slid
it over my wrist. My brow arched, questioning what he had meant about my being
full of surprises. He certainly wasn’t going to answer of course.

We stood against one another still,
leaning into each other. My hands at his side held onto him for support. His
went back into my hair, tangling through the locks. The other was clutched
against my side with my shirt twisted in his fist.

After a moment, Phoenix motioned
that we should continue walking with his head. But I couldn’t yet. I just stood
there, sort of paralyzed. Smirking, he held back a low laugh that shook his
shoulders. “Take your time,” he encouraged.

“Well that was different,” I
commented in a near whisper. It felt like fire and electricity were coursing
through my veins even still, as if my body were a battery that had just gotten
the charge of its life.

“Nice fever pitch huh?” He grinned
now. All I could do was shrug helplessly and nod. Chuckling again he, too,
shook himself. Apparently the experience had affected him just as much. I wasn’t
certain in what way and I wasn’t thinking I should ask either. He looked away
from me- Grateful I didn’t, I could tell.

Phoenix’s arms wrapped me tightly
as my head lay against his bare chest. My knees were shaking. “Thank you,
Phoenix. For everything.” Maybe it seemed silly. He didn’t say anything as we
held onto one another. I felt as if I could out run the Concord if I so wished
at the moment. Actually, I probably could. Some time soon after we turned and
began walking, though kept nearly as close as we did.

“So, what’s with the tattoos?” I
asked as we walked, looking over at his bare back again. He hadn’t bothered to put
a shirt on before we left. Stepping behind him, I rose a finger to trace some
of the patterns.

“Battle tattoos. They were said to
be infused with magic to aid one in war.” I had seen some of his battles first
hand now through the blood exchange. Well, they certainly did something. He was
the most deadly thing I had ever imagined.

“Hah, I’m not all that. But what
about yours?” he asked with a raised brow. Stepping up beside him again I
looked to him, confused as to how he knew. Though I figured it was a part of
the mind reading.

“The day at the falls, Anna,” he
said with a smirk, shaking his head.

A shy smile tugged at me. “The
dreams. I suppose in their own way they symbolize magic for me as well.” I
shrugged. My hand brushing my side where the black rose still looked more
lifelike than I could have ever imagined. I wondered what his looked like
before he turned.

“Hm, I wonder if you could still
manage to use any of the Shaman’s magic,” he speculated aloud idly.

“What do you mean?” I looked up to
him as I bent down under a low branch. As I ducked his hand grabbed the branch,
holding it up higher until I was clear. Once we passed, his arm fell loosely over
my shoulders again.

“Well, as a Shaman you possessed a
great deal of magic as I said. Quite obviously some of it has carried over into
this life from that spell. I just wonder if you’re still capable of using any
of it,” he sounded curious however nonchalant. That was something better
explored another day.

“So now that you’ve had my blood, I
want you to do something for me. Remember the things I said about shielding
your mind from others?” I hoped this wasn’t leading back to Damien. Sighing, I
gave a nod.

He ignored the disgruntled sigh of
course. “This isn’t just about Damien, Lianna. It’s not just mind reading it
can protect you from. Remember what Jezabell did to you after the falls?” My
shudder was his answer.

“You have the potential to block
almost every form of mental attack if you learn to focus. I want you to concentrate
on what I taught you as we walk. You need to try to block me out. You never
know what you may run into tonight, it can only help. And as Damien said, it’s
you they want the most.”

The way he had advised me to work
on shielding myself was very simple. Imagine a physical wall around my mind. A
solid titanium dome shielding myself from anything and everything that wanted
through.

He was right of course. This was
important. I couldn’t deny that. “Yeah, we can work on that. It’s a good idea
seeing as I pretty much suck at it. But I thought you said no one could block
you out?”

“Well, no actually, I never said
that.” His brow furrowed. I wasn’t supposed to know that.
Oops.

“I’ll keep it to myself then.” I
chewed my lip wondering if it bothered him now how much I actually knew about
what he was capable of now.

“I would appreciate that. Anyway,
it’s true. I can get past any shield. However that’s an extremely rare trait. I
highly doubt you’ll meet anyone else that can. At least not tonight.” Phoenix
didn’t seem arrogant in the slightest. These were simple facts to him. “I can
still tell when someone’s trying to shield me. So I
should
be able to
tell how well you do with it.”

Instantly my shield went up as we
walked, I was good at visualizing it. That part was simple but actually getting
it to stay up, and to work seemed much harder. You have to use a dormant part
of your mind that isn’t used frequently for general activity to reinforce the
hold. If you let it slip, your shield will fall apart. He’d taught me the
easiest way to keep it up, though I still struggled with it on occasion.
“Imagine
it like breathing. Your body needs to just turn it into an automatic function.”
Needless to say I had the head room. For lack of a better term, mine was just
too thin to do any good. “You’re complicating this. Don’t worry about how
strong it is. Not yet, not until you never have to think about keeping it up.”

“All right, let’s try it.”

He nodded approvingly. “It must become
complete second nature. Breathing. You know, that thing you sometimes forget to
do when you get amped up?” Phoenix snickered as I jabbed his ribcage with my
elbow. “You shouldn’t have to think about it much and once you get good, not at
all.”

“And once I have the shield in
place?” I questioned again.

“Let me try a new way of
explaining. Just believe in the fact that no one can read you. That your mind
is yours alone. You believed it when you were mortal, didn’t you?”

“Sure. Until I met Damien.” I
smirked as Phoenix shoved my shoulder with his hand playfully before pulling me
back to him.

“Smartass. Just be certain of it.
Your natural ability should take over from there.” He smiled lightly, though I
couldn’t be sure as to why. I was a rather poor student thus far. “You’re a
superb student.” I sighed. I wasn’t bothered by his mind reading. I was used to
that by now. Just that it still wasn’t working the way I wanted.

Stopping, he knelt down, digging
through the earth until he’d come up with a handful of small rocks. “You just
don’t believe you can do it yet.” His free hand came up to take my wrist
holding my hand out, palm up and dropped the rocks into my open palm. “Now
break them.” His hand remained on my wrist holding my arm close to him.

Easily my fingers wrapped around
the rocks, with just the slightest pressure they crumbled to dust. “See, you
didn’t doubt that you could accomplish that for even a second, did you?”

I thought back, remembering when
Damien had done this for Neesa. He made it look so easy. I had been in utter
disbelief. And now here I was, capable also. Phoenix smiled at my memory of
awe.

His brow furrowed in thought. “How
strange.” He mumbled shaking his head.

“What? Did I do it wrong?” I
frowned staring at the dust in my hand wondering what had gone wrong now.

“No no. Your memories aren’t like
most. They’re very vivid.”

“You can see them too? I thought
you mostly just heard things?”

“Usually I only hear thoughts. Our
bond seems to be amplifying it though for right now after the recent exchange.
I’m sure in time it will fade away.” Not sure what to say about him seeing me
human. I cringed, realizing that meant he saw me just before the attack when I
died. Bloody and broken though in truth, that wasn’t as bad as the night I
died.

Now that was just ugly. Blood
thrown from one end of the room to the other. I should have died much sooner
than I did. I never thought about it much before. I had totally forgotten
Phoenix was listening- and watching very attentively.

“Damn,” he whispered letting go of
my arm after a minute. “No wonder you’ve driven the poor man nuts.”

“Excuse me?” I looked up, confused.

“Nothing.” He shook his head.

“Don’t even think about it. What
was that? I make who insane and why?”

Sighing he turned back to me with a
shrug. “Damien. Who else?” I looked at him with complete disbelief.

“Next time you get the chance,
synch up with him like you did before with the visions and take a look for
yourself.” He watched me closely a moment seeming utterly surprised at how
dense I was. “Oh come on, Lianna, think about it. Think about the humans at the
falls. Think about being around Paul.” He gave me a moment to recall. “Compare
that feeling to being around a human every single day. Now imagine being Damien
and tolerating being around you day in and day out as hurt as you had been. All
that blood, and only taking a small taste.”

I thought back, remembering him say
that my blood was the perfect torture. He had been meaning that far more literally
than I realized. “Why the hell am I crushing rocks?” I asked sourly turning to
walk on again while dusting my hand off on my pants.