New Blood (The Blood Saga Book 2) (31 page)

Damien bent down over Demetrius as
Phoenix ran in for the kill. Damien’s fangs dug into the back of his neck.
Damien’s hand continued to pull, his fingers ripping through the scales as
wings thrashed at him to tear him off and slice him to shreds.

Phoenix went in just as Damien’s
fangs sunk into the Dragon’s neck. Phoenix’s hand thrust hard into the center
of the Dragon’s chest. The blow of Phoenix’s fist was so devastating that the
Dragon’s scales gave way. His fist sunk into the beast’s chest straight to the
heart.

Demetrius was paralyzed and dying,
but his wings thrashed, lashing at Damien and Phoenix in any way he could. In
moments Damien’s fangs ripping through the spine, decapitating the beast. The
head of the Dragon fell to the ground as Phoenix jumped back. A gaping hole
left in the chest as the body fell forward. A black lump was clutched in
Phoenix’s hand the size of my head. The heart of the black Dragon.

It was over.

I moved so quickly I hadn’t even
registered I was running. Hendrick grabbed a hold of my shoulders stopping me
quite suddenly as my trembling knees lurched forward to go to Damien.

“Easy, Sticks. Give him a minute.”
Phoenix had stopped short, still holding the heart in his fist. I fought to
free myself again desperately. “Hold her, Hendrick!” My mind could process only
one thought. One need. One action. Get to Damien.

Damien’s eyes were ghostly, staring
right through us. His body swayed a little between the rush of the old blood from
the kill and his injuries.

A minute of struggle and I pushed
Hendrick off of me, throwing myself into Damien. “Lianna, stop!” Phoenix yelled
from behind me. Hendrick took in a sharp breath, standing poised and ready. I
couldn’t heed their warning. This was Damien, not some soul sucking leach. My
Damien. Demetrius was dead. There was no danger left.

My arms latched around his neck
tight as ever, forgetting entirely how angry he had been before. It didn’t
matter if he didn’t want me anymore. All that mattered was that he was okay. Damien’s
arms were around me. It took me a moment to realize what was happening. He was
clinging to me tightly. Too tightly.

I felt a rib snap as his arms
tightened. His grip was tighter than it should be against my spine as we held
against one another. His face buried down into my neck digging his fangs deep
into my throat, shredding the skin like paper.

Sucking in a sharp gasp of air, I
couldn’t even scream. At the same time I could feel the flesh pull away from my
spine, ripping. His fingers dug through the muscle and into the bones. I
thought I felt them starting to separate. My lips trembled though no sound
could fall from them.

All of that had taken less than two
seconds.

Suddenly we were both thrown to the
ground. Phoenix and Hendrick both had tackled Damien and I. Phoenix threw me
away from them sending me into a roll a few feet away. My back was tingling, I
could barely move. I could feel the nerves unravel on the lower base of my
spine like angel hair pasta spilling onto the floor.

Phoenix and Hendrick were both
badly injured, but it hadn’t stopped them from reacting. Both men held hard
against Damien, pinning him down. All I could do was lay there and watch.

His body shook violently. Low
rumbling growls echoed through the night air from Damien’s chest. Bracing my
hands against the earth, I slowly pulled myself to kneel in a crouching
position, but I collapsed from the weight back to the ground.

“Damien!” Phoenix grunted. His
forearm bracing hard on his chest as Damien fought against him. Damien’s teeth bared,
trying to rip Phoenix’s throat out. “Snap out of it! Focus, Damien. Look at me.
Fight it, damn it!” Phoenix was rougher with Damien. Maybe that’s because
Damien was currently trying to rip him apart though. One can only hope.

“We gotta get him back to the
house. You think you can carry him?” Hendrick asked Phoenix.

“Yeah, I’ll manage. Can you put him
down?” Phoenix grunted as Damien landed a hard punch in the temple. “Now,
Hendrick!” Phoenix grappled Damien’s arm and twisted so that Damien was half on
top of Phoenix suddenly. Damien went after him with the intent to kill.

Hendrick brought his elbow down
hard on the back of Damien’s neck unexpectedly. Damien stopped moving. He
stopped fighting. For all of thirty seconds or so he was out cold.

As they stood up I saw the grimace
in Phoenix’s eyes as they tightened their grip around Damien’s limp body. He
came to promptly after being jerked up right. He was dazed though and had given
up on the fighting though his body was as tense as steel cables.

They were long out of sight as I
moved at a crawl after them, making my way back to the house. I couldn’t feel
anything from the middle of my back down, but my body knew what to do.

Now I understood how Phoenix had
managed without being able to see. Instinct. I stood slowly, stumbling through
the miles of woods after them. I managed to only fall a few dozen times. I was
blessedly grateful no one was around to witness this. Not to mention it hurt.
Bad.

My shoulder had started healing
finally by the time I returned to the house. That was due to Phoenix’s gift
before we’d gone to find Damien. My neck and back were no better off though.

I listened to them all as I sat
down (or willingly collapsed) on the front stoop, not ready to go inside yet.
It sounded like everyone was fighting each other. Physical fighting I could
handle a lot better than the verbal stuff. The verbal stuff I wanted nothing to
do with.

Ryce was throwing the younger boy
around, demanding answers about Neesa. Everyone had forgotten poor Melody. She
was probably dead now anyway.

I could see Lara through a broken
window clenching her eyes shut trying her best to see what was yet to come. Were
we out of the fire yet?

Everyone else was arguing about
what had happened. Or was happening. Hell, for all I knew or cared they could
have been arguing over if the sun was rising or setting. I for one didn’t care
which.

Everyone was fighting each other except
for Damien, who was only fighting for his sanity. I knew I should be in there.
At least trying to help him. Even if he didn’t want it, I owed it to him.

They were all in this mess because
of me. I owed everyone. Uhg. Not a pleasant thought. But I didn’t get up to go
inside. I could hardly move. Not yet. The hike through the woods had done a
number on me physically. I couldn’t feel my legs at all. And mentally… I just
wasn’t ready for it. Giving so much blood to Phoenix, and Damien taking more, I
was fighting against more than the pain.

After about five more minutes of
sitting there I heard Jezabell yell, “Where the hell is Anna? Did you just
leave her there?” She snarled at someone or another, though I couldn’t be sure
who.

“She’s outside, Jezabell. She’s
been through enough. Give her some space.” Phoenix. Ah, that explained it.

Time to stop hiding. Damn.
Slowly I stood. Forcing my legs to do as they knew they should and walk up the
steps. I stumbled, falling against the doorframe. It took a moment to force my
feet under me.

Jezabell almost ran into me as I
walked up to the foyer through the busted doorframe. She was coming to get me
if I liked it or not I guess. My brow arched. It wasn’t a pleasant expression.
Jezabell back stepped abruptly out of my way. Wisely she didn’t dare offer me
help as I staggered past her.

I kept my mind as clear as
possible. Solely focused on how everyone else was doing rather than myself. Why
burden the two I cared for most in this world with my pain?

Soon as I entered into the house
Phoenix was by my side. With his arms around my waist, my arm propped on his
shoulder helping me stand. There was no point in arguing. Despite what I did to
try and hide it, he knew.

It took me a moment of looking down
at the floor in utter stillness to compose myself. I was humiliated. I was
angry. I didn’t want to be weak any longer and Phoenix was making it too easy to
depend on him.
Deal with it
. I didn’t argue. The demon was still there,
promising me salvation. I allowed its icy relief to wash through my veins without
giving it the control it wanted.

Damien had moved into the corner of
the room. Lara eyed me curiously but very briefly. She knew what had happened.
I could see it in her eyes. She’d watched what he’d done to me, but there’d
been no way to stop it. Didn’t like the pity I saw there either. She knew more
than that.

Damien’s lips trembled with a low
growl. His eyes were glazed over with a ruby red glow. I realized from the way
Phoenix looked at me and the way Jezie and Lara looked at me now, mine were,
too...

It was from Blooding. The glow of
dead blood. Nifty. Store that away for later contemplation.

Damien spoke, but the voice was
barely his own. “Just back off already I can handle it!”

Phoenix sneered but stayed silent
as he looked me over. I could practically hear the thoughts myself. As if to
confirm, his hand lift my chin to see the open gash on my neck. His other hand
slid around to touch the wound on my back. I didn’t flinch because I couldn’t
feel it.

Phoenix’s lips pressed into a fine
line as he refrained from speaking. I shook my head, glaring. Begging him
silently not to throw that on him now. “I already know, Phoenix! You don’t have
to say it! I know what I did to her! You wanna kill me now or later?”

Damien’s fist hit through the wall.
The stud snapped. Damien was soaked in his own blood as well as Demetrius’. He
had not left the battle without his own share of injuries, but he was the only
one among us already healed completely. Demetrius’ blood was powerful.

Jezabell looked like white marble
for as pale as she was. She’d used a lot of her gift that night and she was
weaker now for it. She motioned to Lara and then the others.

Lara’s soft small hands carefully
lay onto Phoenix’s shoulders to try and guide him to go sit down. He wasn’t much
better off than me despite his healed flesh. He’d used so much power, and the
venom still tainted his veins. My blood wasn’t a magic elixir like the Dragon’s
had been.

“Not now, Lara,” his voice was
almost cruel. After a moment’s hesitation she gave up and backed away from us.

Jezabell came up behind Damien with
her hands up in defense. I watched the muscles in his back tense even before
she touched him. Both her hands lay onto each of his shoulder blades. They
stood that way for a few minutes before the tension in the air slowly lifted.
Another ability of sense manipulation was satiation.

Stepping away from Phoenix slowly,
I moved closer to Damien. Jezabell gave me a slight warning expression but I
ignored her, sliding myself against the wall and up under his arms. My brow
arched, waiting for him to look at me.

Jezabell slowly departed and moved
back to Lara’s side at last. Hendrick strolled over to the other Vampire and
Ryce without a word, standing over them, ready to help.

Damien’s hands slid down to brace
on the wall on either side of my shoulders. The slightest smirk came to his
lips as he had put me in such a position before. It felt like a long time ago,
but it wasn’t. We were both thinking about it.

His fingers brushed through my hair
and then softly down my cheek to the gash on my neck. The skin surrounding it
was turning dark, nearly black much like the rest of my wounds. The blood loss
with whatever lingering side effects of Roman’s magic was inhibiting my
healing.

He bit into his hand, kissing my
lips gently as they parted to argue. “Let me do this,” he mumbled against my
ear. His hand ever so gently slid around my back, lifting my shirt and pressing
his bleeding palm against the gaping wound. As he did so I heard the skin of
his lip break and felt his lips softly press to his savage bite.

We stood like that for a while,
ignoring everyone else. My hands held onto Damien’s shoulders for support. His
other arm held secure around my waist to hold me up. My body still hurt but it
was healing slowly just like the rest of me.

“I’m so sorry,” his voice quivered
into my neck softly so no one else could hear. Lightly Damien’s forehead
pressed against mine.

“We’re past apologies, Damien.” He
nodded slowly. His arm holding me up squeezed gently. “Damien I-”

To stop me, his lips pressed mine
gently and far too briefly. His eyes locked onto mine were heart breaking for
the grief they held. “
Please
don’t say it, Lianna...” My brow furrowed
deeply, showing silently my confusion.
Why?
Damien shook his head.
Damien?
Please don’t do this
.
I need you.
His lips pressed my forehead
firmly. To insure the subject was ended he turned us to face the others.

Ryce was nearly ready to morph back
into the panther and rip the boy apart when Hendrick laid a hand onto his
shoulder to hold him back. “Killing him will give you no answers, my friend.” My
eyes lay onto the kid in the corner. He was shaking. He refused to look at
anyone. The way he huddled so close into the corner he looked like a small
child. It was the same kid who’d longed to attack me in the meadow before. The
same kid I went to high school with not that long ago.

Poor kid.
He didn’t choose this life. But then again I imagine few did.

Despite the situation he had found
himself in, I knew he was still a former part of Demetrius’ group. There was no
way to avoid this now. Jezabell gave a sigh as she looked him over cautiously. “Well
considering he knows more about what Demetrius has been doing lately than any
of us do, not to mention what happened with Neesa and the hum-”

“Melody. Her name is Melody,” I
corrected her with a warning glare.

Ryce gave a firm kick to the kid. “Tha’s
your cue to talk, boy.”

Finally the kid looked up, his eyes
moved up to Ryce, then Hendrick, then over to me. His gaze narrowed slightly
but he had not made any signs of speaking yet. Jezabell swiftly moved to kneel
in front of him. Her eyes were cold and rather persistent as she spoke, “You
don’t have to talk.” She took a pause, smiling in a frightening mock of
innocence. “But it would make your case much more appealing if I did not need a
translator.”

Damien’s grip around me adjusted as
he turned to position himself in front of me. Exhausted, confused and frankly
past the point of caring, I leaned back into the wall behind him. The boy still
held a grudge for me I guessed. But why? I knew just from the reactions from
Damien that he was ahead of me on that end.

Then he proved it when within a
second the boy did not speak. “His name’s Anthony. He still wants Lianna dead.
Apparently he knew Melody before he was turned. Lianna, too. He’s in love with
Melody, so of course he blames Anna. Melody was-”

Before he could go on, the kid suddenly
sprang up lunging in my direction. He flew up right over Jezabell, only to be
caught by the back of his shirt by Hendrick. Jez ducked out of the way quickly
as the boy remained flailing midair. “Don’t you talk about her! You don’t have
the right to talk about her! It’s her fault this happened! All of it! I’ll kill
you, demon!”

Ryce came to stand beside Hendrick
looking rather impressed. Hendrick shrugged.
Awe how cute, they’re bonding.
Over torture. How nice.

Anthony lunged again helplessly in
my direction. I never flinched. After what all had happened just that day alone
I knew I could handle someone like him easily enough.

Hendrick laughed and kept him
hanging midair. It looked pretty funny to watch his feet kick and fly about.
Anthony’s fists balled and swung at the air. His shirt slid up to his chin as
that’s all that held him up. Every kick and punch made him spin back and forth
as his shirt twisted about.

“Easy there, kid. You think this
helps you at all? Calm down a bit. You know that’s pointless. Unless you
wanna
die that is.” Hendrick chuckled.

Die? Hm
.

Anthony finally stopped and just
hung there shooting Hendrick a death glare.
Oh if looks could kill. Hey in
our world some of them can I guess.
“Put me down.”

“Pleeease?” Hendrick mocked. In
response Anthony spit at his feet. That’s all it took for the boy to get
chucked across the room. He went in for a hard crash head first into the floor.
He really was very much a New Blood. Someone older would not have crashed at
all they would have already been using it to escape.

Hendrick threw him in the direction
of Phoenix who was standing ready. The boy fell to the floor as Phoenix’s foot
planted hard on his chest. I heard something pop. His sternum or some ribs
maybe. It made me smirk a little though.

The kid grimaced as his hands
helplessly wrapped around Phoenix’s boot. Ryce had followed just as quickly and
was standing by, snarling. “What about Neesa? I don’t care about the other one!”
Before long no one would be able to keep him from changing just because of how
angry he was. “Where is she?!”

“You’re walking a fine line, son,”
Jezabell spoke as she gave a heavily annoyed sigh. She motioned to Damien so
she could know more.

Damien gave a slight nod. “He’s
only eighteen days old. Melody, as I was saying before, was turned by Roman
just this night. He doesn’t know if she’s dead or if she survived the change.
He made everyone leave before it was over. He doesn’t want to die. Anthony’s
just angry. However he’s also convinced we’ll kill him either way. And I’m
sorry, Ryce. He doesn’t know who Neesa is. He’s too absorbed with Melody right
now to focus.”

Ryce looked as if we had slapped
him. His face fell, looking at Damien with disbelief. “You’re sure of that? He
could be lying.” Damien shook his head, looking down to the floor.

Anthony shot a sharp glare in
Damien’s direction. “I can speak for myself!”

“Obviously you can’t,” Jezie
rebutted with another annoyed girly snort. Her eyes narrowed before a slow grin
came to her lips. She walked over to him and stroked his cheek. His eyes went
wide before I realized what she had decided.

Her fingers were unmovable.
Instantly Anthony groaned and writhed on the floor under Phoenix’s boot. His
fingers uselessly fought against hers. Once he knew that was hopeless, he began
trying to push Phoenix’s boot off of his chest. That, too, was futile. It only
took a few moments for him to give in. “Okay! Okay…”

Anthony groaned as his body fell
limp on the floor, still pinned of course. Jezie finally tapped Phoenix’s boot
and he released the boy. Anthony didn’t budge. After that no one would. He
groaned, his hands coming up over his face with a low moan of discomfort. “What
do you wanna know?”

“Tell us everything you know about
Demetrius. And I do mean everything. Plus, you’re going to take a little ride
with Hendrick and Ryce. You’re going to help them find the girls.
Both
of
them,” Jezabell spoke with a disturbing smile.

Lara came to stand by Anthony,
offering her small hand to Anthony to help him stand. Unwillingly, Anthony
reached his hand for Lara’s and stood slowly. Without looking at anyone he
nodded to Jezabell’s orders. His head hung to stare at the bloody floor. “Who’s
the other girl? I need a picture.”

“I can show him. I can synch with
him and show him.” I wasn’t sure how I knew. I just knew I could. Never doubt
your instincts.

It would of course exhaust me, but
I didn’t even think about it. Hell what would be the difference? Pushing myself
from the wall I staggered up to Anthony at a slow limp. “I won’t hurt you.” Anthony
grimaced as I reached to touch him. There was no way I could connect to him
otherwise though, not this weak. “I promise.” He sneered.

Anthony wasn’t afraid, he just
hated me. I sighed. “I can’t do it any other way right now.” Reaching my hand
up to place against his temple, I focused on memories I had of Neesa from the
vision so he would know where and what she looked like then.

He didn’t recognize her at all. He
didn’t even recognize the warehouse.
Great.
“We’ve got a bit of a
problem. They didn’t all stay together. There was a warehouse. And another
place the majority of the group stayed.” Focusing my visions in his head I traded
his memories with my own.

“A house. In the Bronx. A place
where cops don’t go. A place where no one pays mind to the screaming.” I
shuddered, pulling away from him.

Blood trickled from my nose. I
brushed it away with the back of my hand quickly, unsure if anyone had seen. My
back was to Damien and Phoenix.

“He never saw Neesa because he
never left the house until tonight except once to steal food and water for
Melody. When he returned they’d taken her to the warehouse. The next time he
saw her was in the field. Then when Roman took her away to turn her.” Looking
back at Anthony I smiled sadly at him. He was kind, even with the sad position
he’d been forced into. “If she’s alive, we’ll get her back. Okay?”

“You remember me?” he asked.
Anthony’s emotions radiated from him. Fear. Physical pain and the pain of a broken
heart. His hope was gone.