New Blood (The Blood Saga Book 2) (32 page)

I nodded softly. I’d shown him a
memory of him being in middle school with Melody while I was in high school.
Another of a football game of his that I had attended with Paul and some of his
friends.

I wanted to ask why he hated me so
much. Was it just Melody? Was it something before all this supernatural crap?
Instead I opted to keep my mouth shut. In the end I didn’t think I wanted to
know.

The others eyed me with confusion
as Damien came to lay a hand on my shoulder. Phoenix looked from me to the boy.
I knew what he was thinking without him sharing it with me.

There was no way to change the
past. We could only move forward, move on with our pain carried in our pockets.
It was the lesson we all had to learn.

“Anthony, I give you me absolute
promise, no one in this house will hurt you again, and we will do everything in
our power to help you find Melody.”

Lara cleared her throat. Her lips
pulled into a small frown. She looked up to me apologetically. “I’m sorry. You
need to hurry. Paul’s leaving Burlington now. He’s going to go back to the
house. If you all are going to get a chance to clean up before he gets there
you need to get going. I know the timing’s bad. But if he beats you there then
he will just wait. And given-” She flustered and waved her hand at me.

Oh, is it not normal for people to
be covered in blood and have big gaping holes in their bodies? My bad
.
Damien and Phoenix chuckled bitterly at my silent joke. I shrugged

Phoenix gave a sigh and scratched
the back of his head. He gave Damien a strange look that I found puzzling. “No
it’s fine. Thank you, Lara,” Damien sighed as he spoke.

“I think I’ll ride in the Jeep this
time, if that’s all right with you, brother.” Phoenix mumbled. Yeah he was
worn. And of course he wasn’t letting me leave his sight either.

Damien just gave a small nod. After
a second, he fished through his pocket. Pulling out a set of keys, Damien
tossed them to Phoenix. Wait all of that and he never lost his keys? How did he
manage that one? “You’re driving.”

Damien turned on my favorite Amy
Lee soundtrack for me so that no one would feel the strain the silence would
bring on as none of us spoke. As we pulled into the drive I groaned.

Phoenix had driven as indicated.
Damien sat shot gun as I rode in the back. Before I could even move for the
door Damien had it open. His hand extended for mine to help me climb down. Phoenix
stood at the back of the Jeep. Waiting for me but pointedly not looking in my
direction. Damien seemed lost in his own thoughts. I was glad not to know them.

It was then I noticed Phoenix’s
skin was turning grey again. He needed to feed, badly. We all did, but there
was no time for that.

Phoenix opened the door and moved
straight for the kitchen. He indicated the door to the kitchen with a head nod
and a raised brow. I nodded as I turned for the stairs. He’d have blood
waiting.

Damien and I made a slow climb up
the stairs. He walked me to the entrance of his bathroom and paused, “I’ll wait
here.” He seemed as awkward as a teenager, making me laugh out weakly and shake
my head.

“No time to be prude just get in
the shower. Besides, you stink.” The old dried Dragon blood was not an
appealing smell. “And you have Dragon in your hair.”

“You don’t exactly smell like roses
either.” He lifted a strand of gelatinous bloody goo from my hair making me
cringe. Point taken.

“Actually I think I’ll use Hendrick’s.
I’ll see you downstairs.” Before I could argue he kissed my forehead and was
gone, closing the door quietly behind him. My heart felt frostbitten.

As I heard Paul’s door close I went
outside. “Hey, Paul, what’s up?” I spoke softly. It was easier to act human
when I was so worn out.

Paul grunted. “Um, hey, Anna. Can I
come in? I just wanna talk.” Paul’s eyes were black still, his knees were
trembling. He looked like he hadn’t slept since he’d last been here, if not longer.

Paul’s clothes were wrinkled and
showing signs of having been worn more than once between washes. His hair was
bed headed, but not in the purposeful way. To top it all off he smelled a bit
ripe, too. Damn.

“Your funeral I guess.” I shrugged
turning back to the house. Yes, Jez would be furious. But I didn’t feel I owed
her much of anything these days. Damien looked genuinely surprised as Paul followed
me into the living room.

Phoenix sat on the couch, rather
sprawled which was unusual. He had taken a shower, too, and changed into some
very unlikely attire. Light blue jeans and a white normal men’s under shirt. He
also had a black metal water bottle between his legs. Who wants to bet it’s not
water? He’d already given me one. I took a sip of mine, and as I walked past
Damien I gave it to him.

“What brings you back?” I fell back
onto the loveseat which left Paul to sit in one of the wing back chairs as Damien
occupied his usual seat. Damien hadn’t said a word to me since he’d left me in
his room.

“I have been blowing your phone up
for two days. You ever gonna remember to keep that damn thing with you?”

“Probably not.” I’d smashed it one
day when I was stupid enough to listen to a voicemail message he’d left. Yeah
some people say I have a temper, but I can’t imagine why. Phoenix’s brow rose a
bit on that mental note.

Damien grunted. He didn’t like how
much Paul cursed around me. When Damien cursed it was the equivalent to hearing
your grandmother swear, believe me. Okay maybe not my grandmother. Babushka had
the mouth of a drunken sailor.

“Melody’s gone missing.” They’d
been pretty good friends. Paul had worked at the store when he was younger. He
baby sat the younger girls for years. I had my suspicions that Paul and Melody
had dated at one point though he was really too old for her.

“I was hoping you’ve heard from
her. Since you did the same thing I thought maybe she was here or something.” I
caught what he meant. We all did.
You’re pushing my buttons, dick wad.

A very low rumble sounded from
Damien’s chest. Paul heard it. I forced a smile turning to Damien. “I know you’re
hungry, honey,” my voice caught in my throat unexpectedly. As I cleared my
throat Phoenix arched a brow at me questioningly. “I’ll make you boys something
to eat soon, okay?”

Damien and Phoenix locked eyes.
Phoenix just couldn’t help himself. “Yeah sounds good. Stay for dinner, Paul?”
Damien snickered. I held back a laugh.
Boys! Shame on you!

Of course Paul had to push it, too.
“What’s the matter, they can’t take care of themselves? You wipe their asses,
too?”

“Melody’s not here,” all humor gone,
I spoke as calm as possible.

The low rumble sounded again from
Damien as his eyes set onto Paul with a glare. “Apologize to her.”

Phoenix’s torso had become more
rigid. Slowly he slid up and leaned forward, elbows on his knees. He set the metal
bottle down onto the coffee table. Paul jumped up in defense. It was pretty
stupid for him to say things like that in front of the two of them.

“Paul, why are you really here?” I
finally asked with an obviously irritated grit in my voice. Paul’s heart was
pounding. He was more anxious than usual. It made his veins throb. It made me
hungry. Looking down to my trembling fingers, I gulped down on my burning throat.
It was time for him to leave.

With a heavy sigh Phoenix leaned
forward grabbing the bottle and tossed it to me. Catching it too easily and
twisting the lid off, I took a long drink.

Paul stared at me with a befuddled
look.
Oops.
I’d never been so coordinated as a human.
Oh well.
After taking another drink, I closed the bottle and tossed it back to Phoenix
who caught it easily and gave me a wink.

Paul continued on, “Great, they’ve
got you drinking, too.”
You could say that.
“Look, I told you why. I
just want to find Melody. The last day I came up here was the last day anyone
saw her. I feel responsible about her running off like that. We got into an
argument. I made her mad, okay? So it’s kind of my fault I guess.”

Damien sighed, “Okay, Paul. We’ll
do what we can. I have some friends in the NYPD. I will have them run her name
and see if they find anything, okay? We’ll let you know.” This made her
disappear in a legal way. That seemed good. It would give her family some
closure.

Paul ignored Damien and kept his
eyes on me as he stood up. His eyes were swollen and puffy. The bags under them
were blued and hung heavily. He really had spent a long time looking for
Melody. “Thanks, Anna. Let me know if you hear anything. Even if it’s nothing,
okay?”

“We will.” Paul gave a nod as he
walked out the door.

Phoenix’s phone started buzzing
with Hendrick’s ring tone. “Dangerous Game” by Three Doors Down. Phoenix had a
weird thing about ring tones. He had a special one for everyone. This is something
I’d only recently learned. “You’re going to have to tell me what mine is one of
these days.” I chuckled.

Phoenix shook his head. “You don’t
have one, you keep breaking your phones.” He chuckled as he answered his cell. “Hendrick.”
The humor left. “What’s going on? - This way. How old? - Are you sure? - He
just left. - Is the kid still with you? - Hendrick... It’s too late. She’s
here.”

Click.

Damien and I were already on our
way out the door. We could all smell it, or feel it maybe. All three of us were
out the door before the phone hit the ground. Paul’s hand was on his car door.

The three of us saw her before Paul,
but it didn’t take long for him to follow our eyes. Melody was a good ten foot
behind him. Her skin was paper white and so very thin. She looked more fragile
than she had as a human. Her clothes were torn and bloody. Mud caked her pants
up to the knees. You could smell blood caked on her clothes and in her hair. It
was all hers.

Paul turned for her. I yelled but
it was too late. “No!” Paul was thrown hard as Melody slammed into him. We
heard his ribs crack from the force as his body hit the car. Before anyone else
could react I had moved for the two of them. Melody’s hands latched on Paul’s
shoulders for dear life. His joints cracked from the pressure.

Melody had already begun to maul
his neck. I could hear him gurgling. My body plowed into hers, throwing her off
him. As she flew back I stayed on her. The ground gave to the blow of our bodies
shattering the concrete where I pinned her down.

Her fingers dug up into my rib cage
with all the strength that she had. It broke the bottom two on each side. My
hands took a firm hold of her hair, slamming her head into the concrete. Her
skull fractured instantly from the blow. Crazed, her hands swung at me,
determined to kill. Mine locked on her throat. It wouldn’t take much at all to
kill her.

The lust from fight was empowering,
difficult to control. I felt the same enthralling wave roll through me just as
before with Roman, whose heart I plucked like a flower. The promise of what was
to come.

Everything seemed to slow down for
me. Melody was screaming and lashing against me but I was deafened. My hand
slid to the back of her neck, the base of where her spine connected to the
skull and snapped it in my hands. Her eyes widened as she looked at me,
realizing her death was coming.

I couldn’t stop. Mouth closing
around her jugular, my fangs sunk into her flesh. The blood was still thin.
Still more human than immortal. It didn’t take long for her blood to be drained
completely.

Finally I pulled back, looking down
at her limp body. Her eyes were still open. That was disturbing. They were so
mute and bland of color though slowly turning solid black. “I’m sorry, Melody,”
I whispered and kissed her forehead just before my hand finished the job removing
her head from her shoulders.

Phoenix was slow to approach me.
Phoenix carefully took a hold of my arm, urging me to stand up. Pulling me step
by step away from the corpse. “Anna-”

“I’m fine, Phoenix. That poor girl
had no power to be taken, it was a mercy. Where’s everyone else? Where’s Paul?”
Phoenix’s eyes were narrow on my ruby red irises with suspicion. My hand rose
to wipe at my mouth with as much casualness as if I’d been wiping up a dribble
of ice cream.

“They’re inside. I will take care
of this. Go. They need you,” Phoenix had not finished speaking before I was
hitting the door.

They had waited for me before they
made any decisions on what to do with Paul. Damien sat kneeled by his head. His
shirt waded in his hand pressed firm to Paul’s neck, trying to stop the
bleeding without killing him.

Jezabell and Lara paced circles
around the room. Hendrick and Ryce were still with Anthony, supposedly looking
for both girls still. Good. Anthony didn’t need to see that.

“Lianna. You need to make a
decision. You’ve got two choices.” Damien grunted, the smell of blood obviously
affecting him. He hated Paul and to drink from him would have been quite
enjoyable. Paul was in shock. His body was shaking. His eyes were distant as he
stared back at Death.

“And what would those choices be
exactly?” I questioned calmly.

“You turn him now. Or he dies,”
Damien wouldn’t look at me as he spoke. Even Lara and Jezabell turned away from
me.

“Why do I have to make the choice?”

“Because that’s how it has to be,
Lianna. I know it’s difficult but I will help you with whatever decision you
make.” He would, too, no matter what it cost him.

Every image I ever had of Paul
flashed through me. He had been like my brother in many ways. Could I just let
him die? He’d lost too much blood. He had seconds left to live and it was up to
me. Yeah, he had turned into a real prick. But that wasn’t his fault.

He had been my friend. I owed him.
Kneeling down beside him, I pushed Damien’s hand away. My hand placed over the
shirt on his neck, carefully wrapping around his throat. “Anna, we can’t get
him to a hos-” The snap of bone was quiet but for our ears it was audible. The
others stared at me wide eyed. I guess they hadn’t expected it.

“There was no reason to let him
suffer.” It seemed like the right thing to say.

Damien’s hand took a hold of my arm,
but I jerked away. A red hand print painted my arm in Paul’s blood. “Leave us.”
I sat motionless, staring down at his lifeless body. Damien tried to argue, but
my hand came up to quiet his attempt. “Just go.”

They were slow to leave b,ut before
long it was just Paul and me. They must have thought I had lost my mind. It was
time to say goodbye. As I sat there, looking at the corpse of the man of whom I
had known for so many years, I thought about things. I thought about death
mostly. It seemed wrong. It seemed like it should hurt more. “Goodbye, Paul. I
hope that wherever you end up, it’s better than this life was to you.” My hand
pat his chest before I rose and walked out of the house.

Thick smoke overwhelmed me as I ran
past the field where Phoenix stood burning Melody’s body.

It must have been amusing to watch
the realization hit me as one second I was running and then suddenly I wasn’t. Standing
there, I looked around me as if I had forgotten where I was going. Though of
course I hadn’t. I just realized I had no place to go.

Absently I wondered who drove Paul’s
car as it pulled down the driveway to disappear in some secret Vampire victim
facility or something. Maybe Phoenix or Damien. I could see Damien asking
Phoenix to go with him, having good intentions to give me some space.

But it didn’t matter. None of it
did. I wasn’t mourning really. In fact it’s disturbing how little I felt. What
made me want to get away was the knowledge that if I stayed, all of the pain I
had caused would only continue. Maybe even get worse. Though to say goodbye to
them would be impossible for infinite reasons. They wouldn’t be able to let me
go.