The Frenzy Series (Book 2): Frantic (5 page)

“Right.”

“Seems odd, but whatever. Well, she’s having trouble feeding from us, and we thought that maybe if she gets it straight from the source, she’ll be able to hold it down.”

Roman’s jaw worked back and forth. If Saul wouldn’t come, I’d drag him by force. At this point, someone had to do something or she was going to die.

There was no need for doubt, because Saul answered immediately. “I’m in.”

The four of us walked toward Roman’s house in the dark. The days were getting much shorter now, and darkness came faster and faster each evening. Flurries of snow hit us in the face. “Thought you said she’d kill me,” Saul said, nudging my arm. His hands were tucked into the pockets of his coat.

“She’ll want to, but we’ll be there. Plus, she’s . . . contained.”

“Contained?”

Roman butted in. “She’s locked up. It’s the only way to keep her and the Colony safe.”

Saul stopped abruptly. “You’re serious?” His eyes searched ours, person by person. “Jesus, is that necessary?”

Roman laughed. “Let her feed from you, and then you can answer your own question.”

Saul stared at Roman’s house from the yard. “This is nice, man.” With a pinched look, Roman thanked him. “She’s in there?”

“In the basement, yes. Are you ready for this? She’s not the same.”

“I know. And, yes, I’m ready.” I almost believed him.

The door upstairs opened. Voices: Dara, Roman, Saul, Tage.
Saul?
I leapt to my feet and rushed to the bars, grasping the metal despite the peeling white-gray paint. “Saul?”

“She knows I’m here?” he asked. The familiar, deep timbre of his voice sent waves of goosebumps over my flesh. My mouth began to water.

“She can smell and hear you,” Tage explained.

Footsteps on the stairs.
Saul.
Saul was coming.
My Saul.

As he approached, his scent wrapped around me like a comforting blanket. With each step it became stronger, and yet weakened me by the same measure. I gripped the metal bars that separated us, sending paint flecks sprinkling to the ground, soft as ash. My hands wrung the barrier between us, strangling and suffocating it.

Tage came into the room first. His eyes were alert, his muscles taut. He was ready for a fight. Then Saul stepped onto the half-painted concrete slab of a floor. Dara and Roman appeared behind him, flanking Saul.

“Saul?”
Why is he here?
“Why are you here?”

My stomach growled. It pinched and hurt. I gasped the bars tighter.
His heartbeat.
His scent: hard work, wood, pine soap,
Saul
. The swoosh-swoosh of the blood in his veins. The sound
of his Adam’s apple bobbing. The unsure looks he shot Tage and Roman. The sweat forming on his brow despite the cold.

“Tage said you can’t eat from animals or from them, and I came to see if I could help.”

My heart was bursting I was so happy to see him. I needed...needed to touch him. “Come closer,” I said, smiling so widely I felt that my face was splitting in two. “I’ve had some trouble, but I’m okay now that you’re here. It’s been so long since I saw you.”

“I saw you yesterday.”

“Has it only been a day?” It seemed so long ago. Letting go of the bars, I waved him toward me. “Come here. Please?”

He smiled lightly and stepped forward.
The swishing sound of the wool pants he wore. The crack of his knuckles against his thigh.
He removed his fists from his pockets and slowly eased toward me. The vampires circled him, Tage staying between us.

“Move, Tage,” I said in a low whisper.

“I’m good, tiger,” he said with a smirk.

“Move,” I commanded, louder.

“Nah, I think it’s probably in Saul’s best interest if I—”

“Fucking
move
!” I roared, climbing the bars to the ceiling, trying to find a weak spot. I wanted out!

I jerked hard, plaster falling down like a white rock slide, tumbling, falling, and raining down.

“She’s tearing the cell apart!” Dara screamed.

Pulling harder, I could hear the metal weakening and bending. I wanted out. I wanted Saul. I wanted to touch him. I wanted to feed from him. Would his blood taste sweet? Could I hold it down? He was a part of me. Surely, this would work. Surely this awful feeling, this hunger would end. He would end it.

At the sound of metal meeting metal, I stopped and dropped to the ground in a crouch. Tage stood outside the door to my cell, keys in his hand. “What are you doing?”

Tage rolled his eyes. “Well, since you’re hell bent on getting at Saul, and I’m pretty sure you’re about to rip the bars out of the wall—the ones
cemented
into place—I figured that opening the door might be the best option.” He jiggled the key in the final lock.

When it gave way, the door swung open and Tage motioned for me to come out, but put his hands up to calm me. It didn’t work. I bared my fangs at him, stepping toward the door and easing out, the flesh of my back scraping against the outside of the bars I’d been trying to break. My shoulder blades struck each bar as I slinked across the cell.

Saul’s eyes were wide and I could hear him trembling. I smelled his fear; sour and acrid as smoke. “Porsch? What are you wearing?” he asked.

It was my slip. I’d been cold, hiding under a cover, but then I was scorching hot and took the dress off again. Crisp blood stains marred the white fabric.

“I was hot,” I replied sheepishly.

He nodded, palms out as I circled him, easing away from the bars. “I get that.”

“You don’t. You don’t understand.”

No one understands. No one knows.
Hot. So hot. Fire. Flame. Burning. Flesh burning from the inside out. Charred. Singed.
It hurt so much.

He shook his head. “I don’t know how you feel, but if you feel hot, I can see why you’re only in your slip. Though I’d prefer you in more clothing while we’re in the presence of mixed company,” he muttered. “Especially when you decide to start climbing the walls.”

I snorted. Climbing the bars was easy.

My eyes darted over to the night-walkers. Now
I
was a night-walker. My pulse beat rapidly. “I’m one of them,” I whispered in disbelief. A sob bubbled up from my throat.

“It’s okay,” Saul said.

“It isn’t.”

“No, but it will be.”

A hunger pang suddenly rolled through my core, and I sprang forward and sank my teeth into his throat, drinking and holding him tight to me. His warmth, his blood...I took him in. I had part of his heart.
Mmmmm.
I moaned. Now I was consuming part of his soul. I felt this when Roman fed from me, but not as a night-walker. It was addictive... until Saul’s scream sliced into my eardrums. I pulled away and covered my ears, shielding them from the sound.

Rocking on the floor, I screamed. “What? Why?”

Tage helped me up while Roman quickly licked Saul’s wound. “You didn’t numb him first,” Tage replied.

My lip quivered. Saul’s blood slicked the delicate flesh and I could still taste him on my tongue. More. I needed more, so much more. I clamped a hand over my mouth. “I’m so sorry,” I said, shaking my head rapidly.

But the urge wouldn’t leave. The hunger continued to gnaw at the bottom of my stomach. Saul could help me. He
came
here to help me, right? “Can I have more?” I was weak; too weak to ask that of him. I knew how much it hurt to be fed from without being numbed first, but hunger was selfish and so was I. These were desperate times.

Saul’s eyes locked onto mine. Gray-blue, wide, roiling. He spoke first. “I’m fine. I just want to help you.” Easing forward with as much restraint as I could muster, I wrapped my arms around him and sank my fangs in as deep as I could. Feeding from Saul was ecstasy. I loved him, he loved me, and this felt right. Deeply gulping, drawing him into me, I barely had time to get a sip...

“Let go,” Tage gritted, tearing me away from Saul. I loved Saul! Why were they taking him away?

Roman shoved his body between mine and Saul’s, and Dara helped Tage pull me backward. Once we were separated, she licked Saul’s neck to seal the wounds. “I told you not to touch him,” I growled; my voice, not my own. It was low, predatory, and deadly.

Her eyes flicked from mine to Roman’s and then back again. Tage helped Saul to the side of the room, where his back hit the cinder block wall and he slid down to sit on the cold floor. He held his head in his hands.

“What’s wrong with Saul?” I screamed.

Tage grabbed my shoulders. “You took a little too much, tiger. Now, I think you need to go back inside until we get him out of here.”

“No! I want to talk to him.”

“Hey,” Tage said abruptly, snapping a finger in front of my face to get my attention. “You’ll kill him. If you feed from him again, he’ll die. You took too much. Are you
hearing
me right now?”

Roman helped Saul move across the room and toward the door.

“Yeah.” I backed away, slinking back into my cage. “I’m sorry. I’m...so sorry, Saul. I’m sorry.”

He nodded. “It’s okay, Porsch,” he replied weakly.

“Saul?” I asked tentatively. Tage locked the cell door with the key and slid it back into his pocket. Roman and Dara helped Saul stand, and as his eyes met mine, I said, “Thank you.”

Saul nodded, adding, “Of course,” and started walking toward the basement door.

“Don’t come back.”

Saul’s feet stopped and he turned to look at me, his hand clasping his neck and his brows furrowed in confusion. “Why?”

“I don’t want to hurt you. Please don’t come back until Tage tells you it’s okay. Please. I…I couldn’t live with myself if I hurt you, and I will. I’ll hurt you and not even mean to.” My voice splintered. He started toward me, ignoring the fact that I nearly drained him just moments before. “No! You have to stay away from me.”

I sat on the floor, on a spot that wasn’t covered in blood, and rocked my body. I held my head and rocked back and forth. Back and forth. Saul’s sacrifice churned in my stomach.

Roman and Dara urged him out the basement door and I listened to his footsteps tap up the steps, out the front door of Roman’s home and toward the human side of the Colony. His footsteps had a different tone. They were usually so strong and sure, but now they were weak. I weakened him.

Looking at Tage, I sniffed and wiped my eyes. Blood was smeared all over me. “Can I have a wet cloth and some clothes?”

For once, he had no smart remark. “Sure. Be right back.”