New Blood (The Blood Saga Book 2) (30 page)

They scraped against bone as he tore
a large chunk of flesh from me. Without relent, his mental attack was compared
to a thousand piercing knives digging into my mind as we fought.

Twisting and thrashing was useless
to throw him off me. My cries of pain ended my attack against Roman’s stomach.
Standing up, I brought him with me. Moving as quickly as I was able, I charged
at the broken window, tackling it. Roman was pinned under me with shards of
glass stabbing up into his back. Sure as hell, he let go then.

I fell backwards landing with a crash
on the floor. My feet gathered under me quickly as I remained in a low crouch
to the floor.

Roman couldn’t stand so he simply
fell to the floor as he pulled himself off the shattered window frame. Like a
snake, he twisted his body around to face me, holding himself up with just his
hands.

“Yu’ going to die, cyka!” Roman’s
Russian accent was incredibly thick when he was angry. And like any true
Russian he kept the derogatory names and such to his native tongue.

Reaching a hand out for me, his
fingers curled into a slow fist. This simple action caused me to let out a
broken scream. My skull felt as if it were being ripped apart by an invisible
force. My primal instincts took over. I launched myself at the leach.

One hand wrapped around his throat.
The force of our collision landed us on the floor with me on top of Roman.
Images of my death filled my mind, an old death that had taken place centuries
ago.

Clinching my fingers around his
throat slowly they tore at the vital organs. While Roman’s hands uselessly
clawed away at my fingers and arms, my other hand shot out to his chest. His
shirt already soaked in his blood and my own. My hand on his chest forced my
fingers to splinter through his sternum, straight through to his frozen dead
heart.

The stabbing pain in my head was
daunting and never relented, but I fought past it. His hands clawed and dug at
my arms with little victory even though I could feel my flesh and muscle being
torn away by his nails.

“I promised you would be mine,” I
whispered into his ear as my arms twisted sharply. I felt the snaps of breaking
bone. Heard the rip of his flesh as his neck snapped. Not killing him but
paralyzing him.

I couldn’t stop. I don’t believe
that a single part of me wanted to. The demon was hungry. My mouth opened,
snarling out a growl so demented it became monstrous. Removing my hand from his
throat and clutching to his head now, my mouth closed around his neck sucking
every drop of his blood down. My ears were flooded with his gurgled screams and
grunts of pain.

The tremor in my head swelled but
it made me drive on harder. His blood flowed easily from the gaping wound. As
my left hand felt the beat-less cold heart it dug in harder, wrapping around
it. As it did so, as the grasp was full, both my hands ripped free. Roman was
dead.

The pain in my mind was a dull
throb of aftershock. I was badly injured, but soon I would heal. The power of
his blood was a frenzy in my veins.

There are only a few ways to kill a
Vampire. Drain all of the blood to the very last drop. That’s the slowest. Take
off their head. Rip out their heart. Burn them. I made sure that Roman all but
burned. I should have brought matches.

Pulling back I looked into his
eyes. Roman’s eyes were now solid black, even the whites. Staggering to my feet
I looked down at myself. I was now soaked not just in my blood but his. Roman
was done.

A surge of power and strength
rolled through my body like ecstasy. It was beyond overwhelming. My mind was in
a rage of power.

Two clawed hands grabbed a firm
hold of my arms from behind. I’d almost forgotten that he and I weren’t alone. The
claws dug deep into my flesh. A snarl ripped out of my lips as I forced my
elbow hard into his throat snapping his neck instantly. The Shifter collapsed.

Another unknown monster lunged at
me with a bloodcurdling scream that must have been her battle cry. Cute.

She aimed to tackle me. The girl’s
arms wrapped around my waist with all the force she could muster. I never
budged. My elbow came down hard on that bulging bone on the back of her neck
that connected her spine to the base of her skull. They collapsed together on
an oozing pile at my feet. Her head was attached only by skin.

This is what the monsters of the
world were made for. We were fighters. I had never felt so strong.

Another male came at me. He seemed
mutated. Stuck between a Vampire and a wolf. His teeth tore into my legs
viciously as I picked him up by his head and twisted his neck around so his
head sat backwards on his body. My fangs tore deep into his jugular, ripping
the flesh off rather than just biting.

Blood filled my mouth. Suddenly two
hands grabbed a firm hold of my arms from behind. They were relentless. Good.
Dropping the wolf man’s head to the floor at my feet on top of his body, I
jerked around to grab hold of the one behind me. “Stop. You’re done, Anna. It’s
over.”

My movements slowed as I heard his
voice, and looked up at Phoenix. He didn’t lighten his crushing grip. His brow
rose as he looked over the corpses and then me. “Well you’re an interesting
little thing, you know that, Sticks,” Phoenix commented in a grim manner as he
looked at me closely.

After as moment, he pulled against
my arm to guide me away from the bodies. His other hand came up to hold against
my cheek. The touch wasn’t controlling. It was incredibly tender.

He stared at me for a long quiet
moment. His eyes burned into mine.
Focus on me now, cupcake
, his voice
filled my mind as it had in the meadow.

Desperate to control myself, I took
deep slow breaths watching Phoenix closely. “Just breathe. Don’t give into it.
I know you want to let go of everything, Anna, but you can’t.” He was right to
be so weary and firm. Blood rages are as deadly for those who suffer them as
they are for those around them. I nodded.
Breathe
.
I’m right here,
Anna, just stay with me.

“I already let it in.” I looked to
Phoenix, afraid to look anywhere else and see more blood. The demon wanted it
all. I could feel it inside of me, feeding on the death. It kept begging for me
to let it go, get away from Phoenix, let go.

I know.

More than anything else, I felt power.
Undeniable raw power surged my veins. The coldness that swept me up just before
the fight was feeding the power somehow. I could feel it spreading through my
body, threatening to overtake me completely.

Both his hands placed against my
cheeks as mine encircled his wrists. “I will not let you go, Lianna. I told you
that once tonight already. Fight it. I know how easy it is to give in. I know
how much better you think you will feel, but you’re wrong. You can’t give up
yet, cupcake. You let it in, but it’s not taken over yet. Don’t let it.”

Phoenix’s eyes remained locked on
mine for the better part of a minute. I hated it. I hated the pain that it
brought on. I hated fighting against the overwhelming feeling of power and
freedom. But for him I could suffer it all if he needed me to.

We stood like that for a while,
until my eyes could finally close. I let out a shaky breath of relief. “Better?”
I nodded again. At least I didn’t think I was going to snap now.

He didn’t seem very happy. Not that
Phoenix was a box of smiles or that tonight was a giddy night for anyone, but I
got the distinct feeling his irritation was reserved for me. “Hell yes I’m
irritated with you, woman.” He grinned bitterly for just a second before it
washed away. “I warned you of what could happen.
You
didn’t listen.”

“No harm done.”

He didn’t agree. His thumb stroked
my cheek lightly. His eyes still set on mine. I couldn’t bring myself to look
at him, yet he wouldn’t let me look away. The pain was trying to drown me. It
wasn’t just the physical injuries that hurt.

Didn’t matter though. Not yet. We
had more important things to deal with. Phoenix’s jaw clinched rigidly. His
grip got tighter on me as he saw the change in my eyes. It wasn’t the red color
that concerned him. It was the fear. We were completely alone in the house. “Where
are they?”

Even if it had been less than a
minute I had forgotten the others. “Where are they, Phoenix?” My body tensed as
I tried to pull away from him, but his grip was too strong. Fighting my
instincts from the rush of the fight and the blood was a little more difficult
for me than anyone else I gathered.

On top of all of that my body was
wounded and trying to heal. That and from Phoenix’s weary comments I don’t
suppose anyone else was ripping out hearts or drinking the blood of the dead.

“Your sanity is hanging by a thread,
Lianna. You need to calm down.” Still clinched tight to his wrists, I looked up
at him desperately. His arms twisted slightly, guiding me to wrap around him. I
clung to him tightly as his arms wrapped around me, holding me close. His bare
chest didn’t show a single cut though he was covered in blood. Barely a trace
of it belonged to him. He was much better at this than I was. I wondered how
many he’d killed. “Seven.” I could hear the grin in his voice. Though he’d
never admit it, I could tell he wished it had been more, too.

“Hey, I got three,” I said meekly.

“You did very well.” Though he held
me firm, his hand weaving into my bloody matted hair, his tone was still
utterly serious, “We believe there’s only two left from the pack. Lara and
Jezabell are trying to get information out of one of them. Ryce and Hendrick
are in the south woods making sure that was the last of them, and that none of
them have gone off after the locals.”

He kept me pulled tight to him,
refusing to let me pull or even look away from him. Believe me I tried. Looking
at him just made it harder to face things. “Trust me, Sticks. The eye contact
will help you keep control. Just look at me and nothing else, okay?”

My body burned everywhere I had
been bitten and torn. As if I had been charged with a million volts of
electricity my body was trembling from the high tension. “Where is Damien?”

“He’s with Demetrius.” He held me
up against him even closer as I fought to push away.

“What?” The word hissed out as I
began shaking uncontrollably. I could feel the stir of the strange blood in my
body. The demon was trying to push me over the edge. What would happen if I let
it?
Let me show you!
it screamed, clawing its way to the surface with
everything it had.

“Don’t.” Phoenix had me backed into
a wall in under half a second. His body pressed into mine holding me in place.
One hand lay back to my cheek. “Calm down, Lianna. They’re in the clearing now.
Damien drew him away from you. Now get a hold of yourself or I won’t take you.”

“I’m going with or without you! Why
would you even be here, knowing Demetrius was out there within your reach? I
know you want his blood, I can feel it!”

I wanted to ask why I felt so
strange. Why my body burned. Why my wounds were darkening black where I had
been bitten, and not healing faster. But I couldn’t. All that mattered in the
end was Damien. Even if he was done with me, that didn’t matter.

His brow sunk, furrowed together. “Because
I promised to protect you. I promised I wouldn’t let you go. That’s more
important than another death on my hands. Even Demetrius’. And do you really
believe you could possibly go without me?”

Taking in a deep breath, I closed
my eyes. Of course I knew better. “Open those eyes, cupcake.” Phoenix could
stop me in a number of ways if he so chose. Gulping down the lump of fear in my
throat I nodded before opening my eyes. Phoenix didn’t say anything else, but
he didn’t let me go either.

After a moment he pulled back
without letting go, appraising me from head to toe. His fingers brushed the
gash on my shoulder. I shivered to the touch. He turned me carefully so my back
was to him. I could feel him lightly touch the exposed bone where it had been
damaged. It hurt like fire, but I didn’t flinch this time.

Bringing his hand to his mouth, he
bit deep into the meat of his palm. Squeezing his fist over my shoulder, blood
dripped down onto the wound. “This is the worst one?” I nodded. There were many
others, but that was the worst of them. As I turned back to him, Phoenix ran
his hand down my cheek with his knuckles slowly. “Let’s go then.”

We reached the clearing faster than
I expected. As we emerged from the thick trees I saw the most brutal fight
uprooting between the two. The ground was mutilated with deep ruts and
shattered boulders. A tree lay ripped to shreds in the middle of the field.

Damien and Demetrius slammed into
one another, proceeding to rip each other to shreds. Demetrius landed a blow
with his foot dead center of Damien’s chest, sending him flying back twenty
feet.

Phoenix was midair in one clean
jump and on Demetrius’ heals as I raced for Damien. The force that stopped
Damien was a weak sugar maple. The tree snapped to the pressure. Falling back
with a loud crack as the trunk broke. As some of the roots tore out of the
earth around him, he landed in a crouched position on the ground. When he saw
me, anger ripped through him. He lunged at me, grabbing my shoulders and throwing
us into a roll. Let me just say,
owe
.

Damien pulled me back behind a tree
though his eyes never left Phoenix and Demetrius. His voice was an angry hiss
as he spoke, but he never even looked at me, “What are you doing here?”

“I came here for you!” I hissed
right back, as my fists clinched tight at my sides.

“I can handle myself. Get out of
here! Get back to the house. I don’t want him anywhere near you! Take Phoenix
with you, I don’t want him in the middle of this.”

“He has more right to be here than
you do! Why are you pushing me away?” my voice was an angry plea of
desperation.

“Now is not the time for this,
Lianna! Go back to the house.” Just like that Damien was gone. Demetrius and
Phoenix were now deep in it. It was nearly quiet aside from the damage of each
hit. Phoenix tore into Demetrius’ side with one swift move. A large piece of
skin was removed, exposing his broken ribs and muscle. Their fight was the most
beautifully inhuman dance of blood and war. No two had been more designed for
battle.

A crazed lone Crossbreed ran up on
Phoenix. Fast and fluidly he grabbed the arm coming in for the swing from
behind. Jerked, twisted and snapped. The arm hung dead but the beast kept
coming.

Damien flipped over him. His arm
locked around the beast’s shoulders. He held both arms under the sockets locked
back. Phoenix’s hand came up grabbed the man’s dreadlocks and ripped the head
clean off as he spun back to Demetrius who was changing.

His flesh slicked into black glass
under the light of the moon, morphing into gleaming metallic scales.

Phoenix backed up immediately as
massive wings ripped out of Demetrius’ shoulder blades, extending to an instant
twenty foot span. I watched in horror as Demetrius was ripped to shreds by the
internal Dragon that tore out of him like shedding a second skin.

An ear splitting roar bellowed from
his engorged chest as his body shifted into the beast fairy tales were made of.
I was so focused on the event that I hadn’t seen Damien disappear from sight.

Phoenix yelled as Damien ran up
behind Demetrius and took a flying leap at the Dragon, “Damien, no!” But it was
too late. As Damien was midair, Demetrius spun around using a wing to swat him
down as if he were no more than a fly. The massive jaw of the draconic beast
spread wide, black fangs bared viciously in an ear bleeding roar. His deadly
wide open mouth was heading for Damien.

Damien was too stunned to know what
was coming. Phoenix ran in front of them shoving Damien hard out of the way
which sent him flying back. Demetrius came down on Phoenix instead. His mouth
latched onto Phoenix’s shoulder. The beast was so big his maw spread down over
Phoenix’s arm, chest and entire shoulder blade half down his back. All that
kept him from death were his hands, prying at the Dragon’s jaw, trying to push
him back. Demetrius’ wings wrapped around Phoenix’s body, talons digging deep
into his flesh piercing to the bone.

Recovering from his stagger, Damien
dropped down onto Demetrius back, biting into the Dragon’s neck at the base of
his skull. His hands wrapped around its neck trying to pry Demetrius off of
Phoenix.

Blood poured from Phoenix mouth but
he never stopped fighting. His arms reached up, latched onto the maw of the
monster, proceeding to twist the Dragons head from its neck.

As they were ensuing taking
Demetrius’ head off, I heard movement in the woods. Something running faster
than any animal could. Instinctively I jumped up and took off in the same
direction. No way was I going to let some stray come to Demetrius’ aid again.

Hendrick and I were moving so fast
we nearly collided into one another. The aid was for Damien and Phoenix, not
Demetrius. Hendrick leapt over me tucking his body into a roll through the air.
As he hit the ground he rolled up and took off running again without missing a
single beat.

I spun around fluidly, flying
behind him. As we reached the open field the shock nearly buckled me. Phoenix
lay in the field unmoving while Damien threw everything he had at the massive
Dragon.

Never in my life would I have ever
expected to see a man punch a Dragon in the face.

“Lianna, get to Phoenix!” Hendrick
bellowed while never slowing. The tail of the Dragon slammed into Damien with
such force I could feel the pain radiating off him from all his ribs being
broken at once. Despite his pain he kept on, grabbing onto the wing of the
beast to keep him from flying back from the hit.

As Hendrick caught up to the fight,
he bellowed out a barbarian battle cry such as a gladiator running into war.

I kept running until I reached
Phoenix, sliding on my knees to a stop by his side. Rolling him to his back, he
groaned from the pain. With his chest bare I could see the wounds clearly. Great
holes pierced through his body where the teeth had sunk in. One was the size of
my fist. The flesh had turned black where the poison was spreading like a mesh
of cobwebs spread apart like Halloween decorations. Where his flesh had been
torn was completely black as if the skin was dying.

“I’m gonna put your arm around me,”
I whispered in a breath as I quickly and carefully pulled his good arm up
around my neck. Sliding my arms around him, I stood. Phoenix stayed silent,
which worried me more than f he would have cried out in pain.

“I guess I’m not near as good as
you thought I was,” he grumbled with a dark laugh as I laid him back into a
tree, kneeling close beside him.

“You saved his life. That makes you
better than most.” My hands were shaking as they fluttered over the massive
gashes where the Dragon’s teeth had torn into him. “Tell me what to do,” I
snapped at him.

“Sticks. My wild little tornado.
Cupcake.” His hand came up to brush my cheek gently as his eyes rolled back
into his head. The poison spreading, he was losing consciousness. His hand
dropped to the ground as black blood oozed from his lips. In many places the
muscle had been torn out and broken bone was exposed. Was the venom enough to
kill him?

Without a moment’s hesitation I
slit my throat with my fingernail and moved up against him. My arms slid around
him cradling him against me, holding his head to my neck. “Drink. Drink!” His
lips lightly pressed into my neck. It was so tender it felt like a kiss.

I could still hear the fight raging
but as his cool lips began to suckle the cut on my neck the world fell away
from us. His hands came up around my waist, pulling me into his lap. Only when
the wound began to close did I feel his fangs brush my flesh, slowly sinking
into my throat.

I could feel the pain in his body
as if it were my own. I could feel the charge my blood gave him coursing into him,
healing each wound. Slowly my blood over powered the Dragons poison.

Phoenix drank slow and deep until
each of his wounds closed completely. His blood stained skin was no more than a
reminder. He’d taken a great deal from me. But I would have given it all to him
if it had been needed.

Phoenix clung to me with a tender
urgency he’d never shown with me before. He moaned low as a surge of power
rushed through his veins, holding me even tighter than before. His fangs pulled
from my neck. Holding his lips over the small four holes until the wound
closed.

His hands came up to cradle my
cheeks holding me to him, his forehead pressed to mine. “That’s twice now.
Thank you, Lianna. You don’t know what that means to me. What you mean to me.”

His head lift while his hands held
my cheeks and kissed my forehead firmly. A moment later his hands slowly
trailed down to my waist again, squeezing firmly. “Someone’s feeling better.” I
couldn’t help but smile with relief. My hand held to his cheek, thumbing away
some caked on dirt.

Grinning wickedly with his forehead
pressed to mine, “You’re the best medicine I could ever ask for. Stay here,
cupcake. I’m gonna go slay a Dragon.” Phoenix winked. His lips pressed to my
cheek feverishly as he set me to the ground. Instantly he was gone.

Someone should have told him I don’t
listen very well.

As I hit the clearing Phoenix was
stalking forward, arms open at his sides in challenge. “Demetrius! You think
you can get rid of me that easily? You’ll have to do better than that.”

As Phoenix’s hands came up, several
of the broken boulders rose up from the earth simultaneously. Phoenix muttered
through grit teeth, “Eat this you overgrown bat.” As his hands came together
the large rock fragments flew at Demetrius’ head.

Hendrick was being held by his jaw
in one massive clawed hand. His bones being crushed slowly as Damien was trying
to futilely avoid the wings and tail that kept thrashing down on him. Each time
a wing hit Damien it broke bones and sliced into his flesh viciously as if the
wing was one massive razor.

The rocks pummeled Demetrius in the
head all at once. Damien was clipped in the shoulder when Demetrius blocked one
by beating his wings wildly.

The shock forced Demetrius drop to 
Hendrick and turn to face Phoenix, bellowing out a deafening roar as his black
fork tongue stretched from his blood stained maw. He was pissed.

“You’re not big enough to take me
down, Demetrius. Not then, and definitely not now, you ugly mutt.” Phoenix
taunted the beast as his hands continued to conduct debris to fly through the
air.

A fallen tree trunk lift high and
spun through the air like a baseball player who’d released the bat. The tree
hit the dragon hard across the back. Limbs went flying as if the tree had been
thrown into a grinder.

Furious as he could possibly be,
Demetrius reared back on his legs. His wings stretching wide to show his
impressive size as his chest enlarged screeching out in anger.

Before Demetrius could react, I
heard two loud cracks and a dull aching grunt as Demetrius collapsed on top of
Hendrick. Hendrick had kicked with all of his force with both feet into each of
Demetrius’ knees.

“Hendrick!” I screamed for him,
lurching to a stop as Phoenix’s hand shot up in my direction.

“Anna, stop! On my mark you grab
him.” Phoenix wasn’t watching me. His focus was solely set on Demetrius.

Hendrick’s double kick would be
enough to stop nearly anyone or anything for at least a few moments if they
were shattered. And they were. Hendrick groaned to the weight on his injuries
as the massive dragon collapsed on top of him.

In a second’s time Damien was in
the middle of them. Demetrius fought and rolled. Thrashing wildly to try to
throw Damien off of him. “Now, Anna!”

As Demetrius reared back, I ran as
hard as I ever had. Hendrick reached for me as I flipped over him, grabbing his
arm as he latched on to me. We rolled madly through the dirt. Hendrick was on
top of me when we came to a stop. It was a slow process for him to get to his
knees and help me up. He hurt so much.

Damien’s left hand was braced in
front of Demetrius’ right shoulder. His right hand latched around the Dragon’s
throat, in one swift move Damien snapped his neck.

It wouldn’t kill him, but it still
paralyzed the beast until he could heal. My body lurched forward automatically
but was painfully halted with Hendrick’s arms locked around me. “No, Anna!” What
I saw was so incredible, that when I managed to throw him off all I could do
was stand there.