The Blood Talisman (9 page)

“
I spill my heart out and
all you say is ‘here’s your shirt’?”

She continued walking, not speaking to
him. He caught up with her. She stopped and looked down at her
feet. She felt embarrassed for even thinking anything about him
romantically, again. She became frustrated with herself. He was
completely clueless. He stood in front of her and lifted her chin
with his fingertips. He had a questioning look on his face and she
chuckled like a schoolgirl. She pushed him away and now he was even
more confused. She wondered, “Did he want me or not?”

The flirtatious banter was too much
for her to tolerate anymore.

“
We really need to stop
this.”

“
Stop what?”

“
This,” she said, motioning
her hands between Alex and herself.

“
You want to go back home?”
he said, confused.

“
No, Alex. Jeez, are you
that clueless? I want you. Obviously more than you want me. I can’t
keep up with this teasing and these misleading messages from
you.”

“
From me? I’m simply trying
to cope with this situation and be a little more grounded. I
thought you would understand and that you were helping me to get
through this. If it’s too much then maybe we should part
ways.”

He started to track back to the car
and she yelled, “STOP!”

Birds flew from the trees behind her
and he halted suddenly. She ran to catch up with him, and said, “I
am here for you. I’m way too involved to abandon you. That’s my
point. I care too much for you. I need you to understand that when
you touch me lovingly on my face or when you… I don’t know. I guess
I’m just saying I want you to know these things and respect me
enough to keep me from being tempted.”

He seized her by the shoulders, and
looking down into her eyes he said, “I understand and it won’t
happen again.”

She wanted it to happen again, though.
Again and again and again. She smiled up at him and sighed an
apparently approving sigh. He let go of her and they finally made
their way up to the side of the road, where their car waited
patiently for their return.

Soon they were back on the road and
silence once again plagued the interior. She watched as the trees
passed them by and he attempted to focus on Amalia, but what Selene
had said crept into his mind. She wanted him and it was nice to be
wanted again.

Chapter 11

Ram fished his cell phone out of his
pants pocket. The time read 11:30 p.m. He chucked it down on his
mahogany desk and began tapping his fingers nervously. His patience
was growing thin. It was imperative that John bring Alex back to
him. The Immortal had been waiting for Alex to turn for years and
figuring out his purpose in this game would be daunting. The
werewolves were all that stood in his way of finding the Immortal
and obtaining the blood talisman. The Immortal’s team of witches
and werewolves would rather see his people die in the streets than
grant them eternal life. Why one man would be so selfish with
immortality when he could save a whole race of people puzzled
Ram.

He pushed the little silver balls of
the Newton’s cradle that sat on his desk. They clacked back and
forth together. The ticking was rather soothing. He closed his eyes
for a few moments until he thought to go and check on the asset
motivators. He gathered himself up from his desk and walked along a
corridor from his office. The florescent lights in the hall
annoyingly flickered on and off. He had needed to get someone to
fix that but he had more important matters to attend to at this
very pressing time.

His heels tapped on the white and grey
tiled floor. They could hear him coming as he rounded the corner.
His keys jingled as he opened the door to the area and he could
hear them whispering and rustling to get to the farthest corner of
their cells. He turned and locked the door behind him. He
approached the first cell to his left and peeked in through the
bars at the top of the door.

Amalia lay there in her cot, facing
the wall away from the door. Blood stained her clothes and she
hugged herself, not understanding where she was or why she was
there. She picked at the peeling paint on the concrete wall. Her
neck hurt but she had an uncaring attitude about it.

“
Why am I here?” she asked,
voice shaking.

She turned to face the rust brown door
with bars at the top. The face on the other side of the door was a
dark one. She couldn’t make out the color of his skin, only the
darkness in his eyes. He seemed tired and irritated.

“
You’re here for me to
obtain your husband. He put you in danger. You did not have to be
included in this. This is his entire fault.”

She rose up from her bed and slowly
walked over to the door. She could see his face in a better light.
He was a beautiful man but, he seemed gloomy.

“
Am I in danger here?” she
asked.

“
You will be fine as long
as your husband complies,” he answered.

“
Then why are you here?
Just leave me to be miserable then.”

“
I like to check on all of
my prisoners,” he lied.

“
Well, I’m fine, so you can
go now.” She backed away from the door, not turning her eyes off of
him.

“
Would you like a change of
clothes? I think those have seen better days,” he said as he
brushed the sleeves of his button down shirt as to iron out any
wrinkles. The unkempt look of her bothered him and no female in
here would look as such.

“
You have female clothes in
your prison?”

“
I have a wife, so
yes.”

“
How would you like it
if
your
wife were
held captive here?”

“
My wife
was
held captive here.
For a while.”

“
Oh. Yes, I will take a
change of clothes. Maybe your wife has good taste. I obviously
can’t say the same for her taste in men.”

“
Don’t be angry with me, my
dear. I always treat well behaved women with the utmost of respect.
You can’t expect any less than that.”

She quietly sat back down on her cot,
still eyeing the dark soul behind the rusted door.

“
I will return with your
clothes in a moment,” he said.

“
Wait! Can you look at my
neck then? It really hurts,” she said suddenly, stopping
him.

He unlocked the rusty door. Leaving it
cracked open for light, he walked over to her bed and sat down next
to her. She never took her eyes off him, distrustful as she was. He
brushed her brown hair off of her shoulders and she leaned away
from him. He grabbed her by the arm and she looked intensely into
his eyes. His hands felt soft against her arm. It was a nice
contrast, compared to her current living arrangements.

“
I won’t hurt you,” he
promised.

She reluctantly complied and he leaned
in closer, looking at the gash that his moronic associate had made
on her neck. It was red and pulsing. The blood had stopped and
clotted on her neck. It was healing, but slowly.

“
You will be fine.” He
rubbed the other side of her neck to bring it in even closer. His
lips were inches from the healing wound. She looked at him, in
fear. He noticed and released her from his grasp. “Forgive me.
You’re very beautiful.”

She scrunched her forehead up at him.
“Is this how you got your imprisoned wife to fall for you? If it
is, then you need to find a different strategy.”

She angrily stood up and walked to the
other side of the room. She turned at stared at him. He was an
attractive man and he obviously felt an attraction to her, but she
wasn’t buying his bullshit.

“
You will be going through
some changes in the next few days. Being in prison tends to alter
people. Hopefully, it will improve your attitude.”

He walked back over to the rusty door
and stood at it, looking back at her. He had pulled a dainty white
handkerchief out of his pants pocket and was rubbing the little bit
of grime he got on his manicured hands onto the clean cloth. She
was rubbing her neck and wishing he would leave. He stepped out and
locked the door. She breathed a sigh of relief and returned to her
cot. She noticed him looking through the bars again at her. He
watched her with his dark, probing eyes. She ignored him and turned
back to the peeling paint on her concrete wall. She picked at it
until she heard his footsteps leaving her.

Chapter 12

They were getting uncomfortably close
to Blearney. Alex was nervous and Selene was, well, just Selene.
Her laid-back attitude helped him to not be so anxious. Their gas
hog was getting low again as they pulled into an almost-deserted
gas station. A big rig hummed near the diesel refueling post. There
seemed to be nobody at the truck and the gas station itself was
eerily empty.

Alex turned off the car engine and
said, “Stay here.”

Selene complied graciously and he
stepped out of the car. His heart was racing with every footstep.
He could feel something was not right. He also felt a kinship in
the air. It was a warm edginess. He made it up to the double glass
doors, inundated with beer stickers and candy advertisements.
Nobody was to be seen at first glance. He heard muffled sounds
coming from the back and a tanned blonde emerged.

Her arms were wrapped around a
middle-aged, overweight man in a tie-dyed t-shirt. He could have
easily overcome her and Alex wandered why he didn’t try. He looked
terrified and Alex glanced down at their feet to understand why.
Off to the right was another attendant but she was lying in a pool
of her own blood with her throat ripped out.

“
Alex, my name is Ember. I
need you to feed on this fat fuck. I’m only going to give you this
chance. If you will look outside…” and she pointed to Alex’s car.
Selene was standing outside it, being held by his former Commander,
John Fortner. Surrounding the car were five men that Alex could
sense were werewolves.

“
I’m not going to kill him,
if that’s what you’re asking. I don’t give a shit who you are,”
Alex retorted.

“
You will either feed on
him or I will let John break her legs and the wolves outside will
have her. Your choice,” Ember responded.

Alex looked back at Selene who was now
in tears as John tightened his grip on her neck. He was nearly
choking her through her tears. The fat man in front of him looked
terrified. Alex reached out a hand to the gas station attendant and
Ember laughed.

“
You have to change first,
you moron. I swear, you wolves aren’t the brightest of breeds, are
you? Here I’ll get you started,” she said.

She flicked her hair back behind her
and bit the attendant on his neck. He screamed out in pain as the
blood from his veins trickled down his colorful shirt.

The environment was starting to build
on him. He felt the anger bubbling from within. His blood burned
like fire and his bones began to ache. He wanted to feed but his
heart wasn’t in it. He couldn’t take another life. Ember had given
him a choice. A life for a life. He bent over in pain. The wolf
within screamed to be released to feed but Alex
resisted.

Ember dropped the nearly lifeless
attendant to the gas station floor and smiled at Alex.

“
That’s it, little doggie.
Change, my pet. Your time is running out. He’s dying,” she taunted,
blood dripping from her lips.

“
No,” Alex whimpered out in
a deeper voice than usual.

Ember grabbed Alex by the neck,
lifting him off his feet. The bones within him started to break and
his blood scorched angrily through him. She threw him down just as
he finished changing into the wolf. He could smell the blood from
the man lying on the floor, hear his heart slowly beating. He was
very near death. Ember stood back and watched in enjoyment as he
devoured the attendant.

When he was nearly through, Ember
picked him up by the fur on the back of his neck and threw him
through the glass front doors outside to the parking lot. The other
wolves had changed as well. They were still standing around the
car, awaiting instruction from Ember.

Alex began to change back into human
form. He’d had enough of being told what to do by a woman he didn’t
even know. The transformation was more painful this time. He felt
different. Guilt and remorse started to set in and he didn’t know
which was more unbearable – his emotional feelings or the physical
pain.

“
Alex!” Selene yelled
out.

John’s big meaty hand covered her
mouth, preventing her from speaking any further.

“
Okay, load up, wolves,”
Ember yelled out to the others who had accompanied her.

They trotted over to the big rig and
climbed up into the open back of the trailer like obedient pets.
“You too, sweetie.” She patted Alex’s cheek and ran her hand down
his heaving chest. He struggled to hold onto what was left of his
pants.

“
I’m not going anywhere
with you, you mean ass bitch,” Alex said.