New Blood (The Blood Saga Book 2) (5 page)

Phoenix stood across the room. I
couldn’t pull my eyes from him. Winking, he licked his fingers clean of my
blood before turning and strolling casually upstairs. Phoenix was in complete
control. He had set me up for a humiliating fall.

“Take her outside. Now.” Lara stood
by the back of the house next to a set of large French doors. Pulling me away
from Hendrick, Damien responded so quickly I had hardly felt us move. He didn’t
release my arm until we were outside.

The sun was setting. My eyes closed
to the brilliant light. My senses caught the scent the same instant my body
reacted. For the first time as a Vampire, I hunted. I do not remember what
happened.

There was a haze
like dream though I hadn’t slept. Perhaps it was a memory of a dream.

The
mist was dark. Fog rolled along the ground around me thicker than smoke.
Statues every few paces seemed to watch me with their stone cold eyes. They
seemed alive. Each one watching me with a strange tension. Fear. The air
smelled like jasmine. The living green around me was so thick and rich it was
hued emerald. The many shades of blue flowers of the dark and magical garden
were thick, and covered everything in their exotic nature. Walking to a small
cascading waterfall that filled a little pond swimming with coy and lily pads,
I stood at the edge. My bare feet sunk into the lush wet ivy. Looking down into
the water, there in the moonlight reflecting in the still water was the face of
a monster. Blood red eyes glowing like wild fire. My mouth hung open, blood
pouring out in a slow stream. The white fangs were stained in blood. Every
tooth was sharpened into a fine malicious point. My entire bare body was soaked
in blood like I had been emerged in it. Droplets of blood dripped to break the
surface of the water destroying the image before I could recognize this demon’s
face.

Awaking in bed, I looked down over
my body. Bright white leggings, a flowy white shirt bunched slightly for its
length at my hips.

Groaning for the stiffness of my
neck, I looked around. I couldn’t be certain what had happened. My gaze came to
rest on Damien. A slight smile met me.

“What- How long?” I knew at some
point I had blacked out. No clue when. No clue what had happened. No memory
past my eyes closing to the brilliant light of the setting sun.

“A little less than a day.” Damien
sighed, running his hand across my cheek. The side that had been injured by Phoenix.
It didn’t hurt now.

“Do I want the details?” Damien
shrugged, shook his head. “Better give them to me anyway.”

“You fed. When you were done, and
we went to check on you, you were unconscious. Nothing more elaborate,” his
voice was deeper than usual. Angry.

“And Phoenix?” I asked dully. My
brow rose slightly.

“Phoenix… I should rip his fucking
throat out.” My eyes bulged. His eyes closed as he laid his hand over my cheek
for a moment longer.

“He’s your brother. Don’t say that.
I attacked him. It wasn’t his fault. We both know he could have killed me if he
wanted to. He didn’t though, and I’m quite certain that was for your benefit.
Not mine.” Pulling his hand away from my face reluctantly, I let out a sigh. My
hand squeezed his.

“I have a hard time believing he
didn’t let you get that close just to prove a point, Anna. He does nothing
without a reason. He provoked you. And trust me, I will find out why.”

“I lost control. Either because I’m
young or because I was dead before I turned. Or maybe because I was never human
to begin with. Or maybe it’s something else entirely! He wanted to make sure I
knew what could happen if I were to lose control again. That’s all. I need to
apologize to him I suppose.”

“You were provoked under what was
already an extremely stressful situation for a young Vampire. I’m sorry,
Lianna,” Damien spoke with an edge.

“So when I end up killing the wrong
person because I lose control again, then what? You’ll apologize for that, too,
I suppose?” I ranted in an angry hiss.

Damien just sat there watching me.
Eventually his shoulders came up in a shrug. He knew that he probably would in
all actuality. “It’s possible. But that’s another reason why I won’t let you
have human blood for quite some time. You think the deer was something... Mmm.
No, you’re really not ready for that yet.”

Idly I let a thought ponder on what
was in the glasses. “Please, Damien. I know this isn’t normal. I remember what
they said in the living room. What’s wrong with me?”

“It was pig blood. And that was
probably just an overload. You were angry. You were stressed, and hungry. The
blood just sent you over the edge,” he sounded like he was trying to reassure
himself. Not me.

The blackout just added to the list
of problems. He had never seen anything like it before I would bet. What kind
of Vampire became comatose from feeding? Letting the silence be our comfortable
blanket we laid together in peace. His arms held around me as if they were only
so long as to fit me against him.

“Why did you stay?” I wondered
aloud, breaking the bliss of quiet happiness.

He didn’t follow. “When I met you
in Vermont? I told you that story already.” For every word his lips ticked the
nape of my neck.

“When I died,” I corrected in a low
whisper. “The longest you’d heard of was a few hours. You stayed for days.
Waiting. Why? Didn’t you think it was hopeless?”

The arm over top of me squeezed
without thought. “Not for a second. I’d never felt such pain at the thought of
you dying in my arms. And you did die. But only your mortality. Your body didn’t
take to death very well, I suppose. Not like a mortal would.” I didn’t say
anything when he finished. After a moment, he confessed, “I’m not sure I’d have
been able to leave no matter the outcome.” The arm under me, folded across his
adjusted. Fingers found mine, interlacing.

Maybe some things were better than
the quiet happiness of peace.

I didn’t have to say it but I was
hungry again. The burning spread through my veins as if I had been starved for
too long, and was weak with hunger. Hadn’t I just fed though? “How long will
this last?” Certainly I couldn’t feel this way for the rest of my eternity.

“Like the hypersensitivity, it
never completely goes away. It just settles into the back of your mind. You
learn to function around it. There is quite a bit for you to learn actually.”
In an instant he was standing by the glass wall, sliding open the panel to the
balcony as he turned to face me. “You wanna learn or what?” His lips twisted at
the corner of his mouth. A mocking smirk beckoned me to follow.

“You know that you’re faster now of
course. But do you know how much faster? Or more, did you know you have better
balance than a cat? Agility of a snake?” His usual grin was weak but still
mischievous.

Cautiously I walked to him. Joining
him outside as the sun was setting overhead. The end of another day.

Not allowing me the time to focus
on the masterpiece of the setting sun his hand held out to me. Naturally,
without pause, I took it, and in one blindingly fast move he had me standing up
on the rail.

Desperately my fingers clutched to
his shoulders as his hands placed casually to my hips. “Trust me, Anna.”

I’m not afraid of heights. Not
really. But wouldn’t anyone be alarmed when forced onto the ledge of an
impossibly high balcony.

His hands stayed on my hips but not
to hold me there. He let me handle that part on my own. “Let go of me, Anna.”
His smile crept onto his lips as he coaxed me much as one would a child.

Stubbornly, I shook my head. My
eyes stupidly glanced down at the drop that seemed much further than your
normal three-story landing.

“You’re right. Since the ceilings
are so much higher this is much closer to a five or even six story balcony than
a three. Now let go, love.” His hands released my hips and placed to my own,
gently prying my fingers away from his shoulders, but hanging on to them.

“Your knees are not even shaking.
Do you really feel as if you are going to fall by accident? Think about it.
Feel your surroundings.” I looked down at my feet. I hadn’t even realized I was
balanced on the balls of my bare feet.

It did seem stable. The wind
threatened no more than my shirt.

Damien released one hand and walked
the length of the railing with me. Forcing me to walk with him if I wanted to
hang on to him at all.

Really, it wasn’t at all difficult.
It was just fear that had thrown me off me before.

As my body seemed to relax, his
fingers slid from my own. “You need to learn just what all you’re capable of.
You will find it quite surprising.” And with that, he grabbed my ankle and
pulled it out from under me, successfully flipping me off the rail, then
backwards off the balcony.

The ground below me seemed mocking
as I fell. A vast garden spread from the back of the house into an exotic
minefield of plants and decorative statues.

Surprisingly, I felt no fear as I
flipped gracefully down the many feet towards the earth. A stone pillar stood
tall below me with an ornate granite ball on top. Without even thinking about
it, my body knew what to do. Easily I landed a top the pillar, balanced on my
toes on top of the black glittering ball.

As I looked up, Damien was staring
down at me. My brow arched inquisitively as he grinned recklessly down at me.

With one easy step, I fell again to
the ground and landed without any effort at all. The very instant my feet
touched the earth I was running for the woods. I could feel Damien behind me,
gaining with every second.

A vast field spread after the
garden towards a dense forest. This was the first time I had truly run. I knew
Damien could move faster than my eyes could focus. He always had. But for some
reason it never occurred to me that I could really move like that, too.

In seconds, I hit the tree line,
jumping up to the first branch I came near. Grabbing it easily, I swiftly pulled
my body up to steady my feet beneath me like a stalking cat.

Okay, honestly more like a
squirrel. But who wants to compare themselves to a squirrel? He circled behind
and leapt for me while I moved faster than I thought imaginable. My clumsiness
seemed to vanish more with each step. It was a rush. My blood burned as I just
ran. Damien followed in the treetops. Suddenly a brick wall hit me, causing me
to tumble to the ground, and roll with Damien. My hands thrust against his
chest as we played.