New Blood (The Blood Saga Book 2) (27 page)

The vines had twisted and sliced
all the way up to my thighs. Each thorn had dug deep through my jeans into my
flesh.

My head throbbed like my mind had
been ravaged and left for the vultures. Blood ran from my eyes, nose and ears. Every
one of my senses scavenged my surrounding area before I collapsed to the earth
on my knees. My head in my hands, I howled from the pain.

I only let the grief and agony take
me for a minute at best. Falling onto my backside my hands began to slowly pull
the thorn vines away, starting with my feet. As I tore the vines away I ripped
my jeans into shreds. They bit into my hands. The blood made them slick and all
the more dangerous.

Just as I was nearly free, a low
snarl rippled through the air before I felt him plow into me. As the force hit,
my hand thrust for his throat.

Phoenix was so fast he had both my
wrists in his hands before I’d known it was him. But I fought angrily still and
I fought him with everything I had. In that second I hated him. He hadn’t gone
to them. My emotions were conflicted. Immense relief washed over me. He was
here with me and he was okay. And yes, he knew.

His ice cold fingers held up to the
sides of my head holding me steady while my fists battered his bare chest and
shoulders.

In an agitated whisper he spoke,
refusing to look at me, “It wasn’t like that. They were ready for us. They knew
I was here with you. Anna, I have to get you to Damien. I’ll explain it there.
We have to go,” his voice was as rough as it was dire.

Phoenix jerked me up from the
ground. Stumbling back I pulled away from him with a low snarl. Grabbing my arm
he jerked me tight against his body. His forceful movements ripped me free of
the vines, the ones that still clung to me dug into my flesh deeper as he
jerked me free. I managed not to voice the pain it caused.

Both his arms were wrapped around
me, holding me tight against him as his gaze stayed constant on the woods. My
face buried against his bare chest as my hands clutched to his sides
desperately. His bare skin was slick with blood. “If we don’t hurry then we’re
all dead. Is that what you want?” his voice was dark, snapping me back to
reality.

“Go. I’ll be right behind you. I- I
can’t move fast. My legs. They-” my voice quivered. Reluctantly I straightened,
staggering as I tried to push him away. “Please just go to them.”

Phoenix wouldn’t let me budge. “No.
I’m not letting you away from me again. I’ve got you.” His lips pressed hard
against the top of my head.

Phoenix was so much faster than me.
He didn’t even slow when we got to the house. Damien stepped out of the house
just as we came through the trees. He looked ready to rip heads off. With one
jerk of Phoenix’s arm, he pushed me into Damien and shoved us both into the
house with so much force neither Damien nor I knew how to respond.

“Jezabell!” Phoenix roared after he
had us inside. Jezabell and Lara flew into the room with Hendrick cautiously
striding behind them.

Damien held me tight against him.
My legs hurt so badly all I could do was cling to him to relieve the pressure
of standing suddenly. Phoenix had carried me. Without looking back at us,
Phoenix snapped at us. “Damien, sit her down. She’s been poisoned by dark
magic.” He eased me down onto the couch. Sitting by my side, he held me tightly.
His eyes were narrow as he watched Phoenix closely.

“We were ambushed. They had every
opportunity to kill her, but they didn’t. They tried like hell to kill me
though. I took out the three that caught up to me. They knew I was with her.
They separated us, and attacked me.”

Phoenix was shaken. “They-” It was
the first time I had seen a Vampire as out of breathe. “They have Faye Bloods.”
His hand rubbed his eyes, holding his hand in a fist against his forehead. “I can’t
see anything.”
What?
“Jezabell, fix this!” He was in a panic induced
rage. His fist clinched tight pounded the wall once so hard it left a hole.

Jezabell ran for Phoenix, grabbing
his arm and pulling him away from us to the corner of the room. “Phoenix, I can’t
promise-” her voice was shaking.

“Do it!” He snarled through grit
teeth.

He’s blind? My God… How’d he even
get us here? How did I not realize it sooner?

Damien slid down to his knees in
front of me. His hand took hold of my chin pulling my sight away from Phoenix
and Jezabell. “Give them space. Just look at me,” he whispered low.

My eyes were wide with anxiety as I
fought the pain. Damien examined my bloody face gently. “You okay?” I nodded
stiffly. “Did you black out?” I shook my head. His brow rose, waiting for the
answer to the question he didn’t want to ask aloud. Why had I been bleeding?
Tilting my head from side to side, he looked at the streaks that ran from my
neck to my ears. Blood stained from my nose to my chin, too. Saying nothing, he
went to work on my legs. His hands ran up my legs from my bare feet to my
thighs. As he went, he pulled out thorns that were still embedded into my skin.
I’d lost the shoes tearing the vines a part.

“The human blood helped you a lot. You’re
healing quickly physically. The strain of the magic will fade with time.”
Damien rubbed up and down my thighs slowly, carefully massaging. It wasn’t to
sooth me mentally, but to help ease the pain.

The more he rubbed the more the
feeling came back to them. I knew it seemed really needy but I couldn’t help it
nor did I care. My hand reached out to his chest, just twisting his shirt in my
hand to feel him near me.

Jezabell was holding her fingers above
Phoenix’s face, pinched together. Her other hand held to the side of his head.

“Jezabell?” I asked, looking at her
expectantly, horrified more like. She nodded and gave an unbearably forced
smile before turning back to him. She was doing her best.

Lara sunk down onto the floor by
the cold fireplace. With her hands rubbing along her temples, her eyes closed
tight. She put everything she had into focusing on what was coming. “They will
not come back tonight. They have to regroup. You must have taken out some of
their more important people.”

Phoenix looked to me and closed his
eyes after a curt nod. Blood dripped down his cheeks before he could wipe it
away with the back of his hand. A gust of breath let out from his lips
painfully as he nodded to Jezabell gratefully. “It’s better. We’re good.
Thanks,” his voice was still tight with strain.

Jezabell pulled him to her in a
hug, gently kissing his chin as she lift to her toes. The gift of his relief
and returned sight had cost her certainly. Jezabell was no healer by any means.
Sense manipulation works more than one way apparently. He was better, that’s
all that mattered.

Damien’s brow was furrowed as he
looked over everyone individually. I really didn’t want to know what he was
hearing right then. His hand squeezed my thigh in response. Guess it was a good
thing I couldn’t read minds.

I had noticed the house had gone
through a complete remodel, but I ignored that for now. At least Liahm’s
remains were cleaned up.

With a heavy sigh my face lay into
my hands, elbows on my knees. I looked up as Jez spoke, “We’re obviously
missing a very important piece of information with all of this. Why would
anyone go to so much trouble?” Jezabell sat down beside Lara, their hands
joining as Lara remained quietly focused.

Ryce leaned back into the wall by
the fire place, watching us all uneasily. He had no concern if we were hurt or
not, all he wanted was his Neesa, and maybe to punish some pires.

“There’s no doubt that Nekayla has
given these New Bloods a lot of resources and power.” Aka her blood. “Lara, you’re
not the only Vampire that can see the future. Maybe that’s how they knew
Phoenix was with her,” Hendrick grumbled along as he paced the room.

“Phoenix, did you hear anything in
the meadow? Do you know what he did or said to me even?” I asked standing up
slowly as I moved to stand closer to him. Damien moved with me, his arms
circling me from behind. Supportive in all ways. No one had asked me about what
happened yet. “Do you even know what all was in that clearing?”

Phoenix shook his head as he leaned
heavily against the wall. “No. I think he left soon as he knew I had killed
three of his people off. What happened?”

“There were fifteen creating the
circle. Five Descendant Crossbreeds. Five Shifter Crossbreeds, and five full
blooded Vampires. So we’re looking at sixteen with Demetrius. Melody is alive.
She was with them, but not Neesa.” Sparing a moment I looked to Ryce. “That
means they’re not willing to let her be killed in the crossfire, it’s a good
thing I think.”

“You think,” he repeated to make a
point.

There was nothing more I could do
for him. Turning back to the others, “The Descendants ensnared me with magic,
as you know. But the leader carries a very strong gift as well.” I sneered. I
was done with the fear. I was pissed off now. This was my fault and I needed to
fix it. Damien squeezed me gently. He hated my guilt, thought it was absurd.

“He said I would see you all die.”
I bit down on my lip as Damien leaned to kiss my cheek. My hands lay over his. To
stop my own from shaking I squeezed his fingers.

“Nekayla wants you alive for
herself. The ones coming here shouldn’t be after your death or Damien’s for
that matter. She wants him alive to keep as one of her pets. You on the other
hand she has different plans for.” Damien sneered at Phoenix’s information. He’d
rather die than be taken by them.

“Sure that’s what she wants. But
from the looks of things I would say at least two of the full Vamps are New
Bloods.” No point in sharing I knew one of them. Phoenix and Damien heard this
of course. The two looked at one another as if debating the importance.

“I wouldn’t be sure of the others.
They won’t have enough control to stop. They’ll fight to the death no matter
who they’re up against. And the one in charge has no concern for what Nekayla
wants.” They all knew I was right. Roman couldn’t wait to get his hands on me.
No matter whom he had to answer to. He didn’t know any better. He’d probably
never even met her.

 “I think I have an idea to help us.
Something they won’t be able to stop.” His arms still around me, I turned to
face Damien, my hands lay on his chest. “I need to see Neesa. I need to talk to
her.” Damien shook his head, but I stared at him, determined.

“I can will it myself now. I know
that I can. I can go back to that in-between place. I know what it felt like to
be connected with her. It will be easier to do it again.”

“No. They knew your every move in
those woods. You have no idea if that was Neesa or not.” Damien grumbled
roughly. Phoenix looked solemn. “Besides you’ve never done it yourself from so
far away.”

“It was her! You have to trust me,
Damien. She can help us. If she’s been conscious at all she may know something.
A weakness in them somehow. She can help us figure out what they are planning.”

Through the bond Damien could feel
the magic’s toll it continued to take. Placing a hand on my shoulder he urged
me back to the couch. He sat kneeled in front of me, hands massaging again. As
I leaned forward putting my head in my hands, Damien pressed his forehead to
mine. One would really figure after dying a few times they’d be immune to
headaches. Not so much.

“She’s right. Neesa’s stronger than
yu guys know. She has the power ta do this,” Ryce mumbled from the corner.

“Let’s say it is Neesa, with so
many Descendants how do you know they’re not watching the link somehow? Using
her to get information through the connection. What if she’s one of them, being
forced to help? She could have been in that field and you never would have
known if they didn’t want you to,” Phoenix’s warnings were painful because he
had a point.

“They couldn’t make her do
anything! If nothing else, we’ll know if she’s…” Ryce looked down and shook his
head. “Whatever Anna does, if she can connect to her it can only help.”

Waives of anxiety rolled through
the room off of everyone. They were more than a little concerned about the idea
of anything else happening to me again right now.

Hendrick and Jezabell voiced their
confusion on what exactly we were all talking about. “I promise when we all get
out of this, I’ll sit down and explain it.” I didn’t care to waste the time
just then.

Eventually we talked ourselves back
to the possibility of me connecting to Neesa again. Damien’s argument was the
last time I lost consciousness due to one of those visions it had taken quite a
toll on me. After the attack and the upcoming fight I didn’t need more strain.

“I admit it would help a lot if I
could feed after.” I said with a sigh.

Phoenix looked up to Damien on that
note. He seemed decided. Phoenix eased up to stand beside me, next to the
couch. “It’s best if she feed from you since we can’t get her any human blood.
When’s the last time you fed, Damien?”

Damien shook his head as he stood
up. “I’m fine. It won’t hurt me for her to drink from me. You’re right. Vampire
blood is the best for her now. May even help rid the remaining effects of the
dark magic.” Phoenix nodded in agreement.

So they were agreeing. Good. Even
better- not just with me but with each other. Superb. Now time to ruin the
moment.

Damien was nearly as good in a
fight as Phoenix. I couldn’t weaken him. We needed him. “Damien, you haven’t
fed in over a week or better. I won’t do it. I don’t care what you say. I can’t
hurt you like that. You need your strength. We need you strong.” I shook my
head.

Damien glared down at me intensely.
I got the strange feeling he didn’t want to argue in front of anyone.

Jezabell ran a hand down over Lara’s
hair gently as she spoke, “Damien. I am going to suggest something you’re not
going to like very much.” Damien’s body tensed as his eyes narrowed on
Jezabell. A low grumble sound started in his chest.

“She can feed from me. I will be
fine,” Damien protested. He knew what she was thinking despite that the rest of
us were left in the dark. Almost all of the rest of us that is.

“Oh all of you just stop. It’s not
that important for me to feed at all. I’ll be fine without it. Not like I haven’t
drank more than everyone in this house put together the last few months. Besides
I had plenty tonight before we left.”

“It was you that said it would help.”
Damien turned to me with a raised brow. I should’ve kept my mouth shut.

“Well hell. You and Phoenix have
both had her blood. Why doesn’t she just feed off Phoenix?” Hendrick spoke up
and regretted it as soon as he did. Damien was practically seething.

Lara was nodding. Jezabell looked
to Damien with a shrug. “Told you it was a good idea.” So that’s what she had
been thinking. No wonder he was getting testy. “He’s stronger after my help and
the blood healing. Plus he feeds more frequently than you do thanks to Lianna.”