CLUB NUMBER FIVE (Immortal Blood) (18 page)

“So, you and Dane, huh?”

“Yeah.” I laughed nervously. “Weird world.”

“I told you, he always gets what he wants.” Jonathan sighed, and I felt crappy.

How could I explain to him that it was nothing like that? That I had been crazy about Dane from the second I saw him? And after that, well, it had been a wild ride, but something had happened and my heart had melted like butter in the sun. He’d had a lot of opportunities along the way to take me against my will, or to do whatever he wanted with me. But instead he had let me take my time and seduced me slowly. Yes, you would think that I was a victim and that Dane had ca
ught me like a spider in his web
, but that was wrong. I believed that if I had said no and meant it, he would have left me alone. So call me a blue-eyed idiot, but I would fight for an eternity to keep that stunning man beside me.

“Maybe it was me that wanted him and not the other way round,” I whispered sleepily.

“Maybe,” Jonathan sighed. “Do you love him?” I shrugged. Maybe or maybe not. I didn't know for sure, but I felt th
at I was falling for him. “Okay.
” Jonathan sighed again.

I glanced at him with surprise and flinched as I saw the pain in his eyes. Sure, we had agreed we could never be more than friends, but something a lot more than friendship was hiding in the depths of his eyes.

“Really, Sam.” Jonathan stroke
d
my hair gently. “It's okay.”

“Okay,” I huffed and let myself sink into his arms again.

We sat there for a while and I felt my body finally giving in. The exhaustion I had felt for days now started to take over and my eyes slumped dangerously. I heard footsteps and cracked my eyes open just enough to see Dane entering the room. He gave us a lopsided smile and offered a glass full of blood to Jonathan. Jonathan took the glass and raised it as if to say thanks. He sipped it once and sighed approvingly.

If I had been fully awake I would've seen the looks in their eyes and suspected something, but I was enjoying Jonathan's warm, friendly armpit with my eyes almost closed, and the idea of them conspiring behind my back never occurred to me. So I didn't resist when Jonathan put the glass to my lips. I could smell light cinnamon in the blood and I wrapped my fingers around the glass thankfully.

“I'm sorry,” Jonathan whispered, and I tried to turn my head to see him better. Why had he said that? And had he said it to me or to Dane? I managed to catch Jonathan's eyes and he looked as guilty as heck, but I couldn't understand why. I let the moment stretch, but as he didn't say anything more or give me an explanation as to why he was sorry, I decided to let it go. I sipped from the glass and drank thankfully. The blood tasted divine and I was feeling really good. The warmth was spreading from my mouth to my limbs and I sighed, feeling relaxed. Jonathan pulled me tighter against him and I was practically lying in his arms. I glanced at Dane. He was looking at us like a predator, but he didn't look a bit jealous. Weird. Why was he standing there?

I tried to smile at him, but my lips felt awkward, as if I'd just eaten glue or something. It was almost impossible to move them. I touched my lips, but they felt normal. Dane smiled at me and for a second I thought I saw something in his eyes. Regret, maybe. But I didn't understand it. Did he regret making out with me? Or did he regret letting me stay in Jonathan's arms? I tried to get up but the glass dropped on the floor and I felt the world spinning around me. I tried to focus my eyes on Dane again, but all I saw was a blurred figure who talked to me softly with Dane's voice.

“What...” I managed to say before I passed out.

It was dark when I woke up. I was lying on
a
bed with my hands tied above my head and my legs tied together. Something was hurting my left hand like hell and I tried to open my eyes to see what it was.

“She's awake,” a familiar voice said, but I didn't recognize who it was. All I knew was that I had heard her voice before, but any connection was too difficult for me to think of right now.

“Give her more blood,” said Dane's voice, and I tried to struggle. It was no good. Someone put a glass
to
my lips and poured warm blood into my mouth. I was out of the game in a minute.

I woke up to bright light and my eyes flew open. I was still tied to the bed but I wasn't drugged anymore. I tried to move and found it quite easy. With one move I untied myself and jumped up. My eyes scanned the room and my body unconsciously took a defense position. The room was empty. I was alone. I let myself relax and sat on the bed. I didn't notice anything different in me so I didn't understand why they had drugged me. Not until I glanced in the mirror. I lifted my left arm in horror and stared at my wrist.

“Quinque,” I whispered and let my hand drop to my lap.

I traced the lines of my new tattoo and wanted to scream. They were all in this together. They had all known what would happen and no one had stood up against the others. Not even Jonathan. They had drugged me and tied me up like an animal. And as if that wasn’t enough, they had tattooed the word ‘quinque’ on my wrist along with two small dragonflies. Why? I opened the door and almost broke it as I smashed it so hard. Then I ran down the stairs, just to meet Dane and the others in the living room, acting like nothing had happened.

“I'll kill you!” I shouted and banged my fists on Dane's chest.

He grabbed my wrists and let me
scream and fight on my own. Oh
and did I scream. I called them by names I was sure they had never heard before. I cursed them and swore to destroy them all, but nothing helped. They stayed quiet and Dane kept staring at me like I was a brat.

“Are you done?”
h
e suddenly asked and tossed me onto the couch.

“No, not even halfway,” I snapped and tried to get up.

He pushed me back and looked at me seriously. “I think you should stop now.”

I looked at him with my mou
th open. Was he serious? No way
was
I
going to let them get away with all this so easily. I hissed at him and revealed my fangs. Jonathan came between us, but I pushed him away
roughly
a
nd shut my ears to his pleading
. I concentrated all my rage on Dane and was unaware of the looks the others exchanged around us. I was shouting my hate out and Dane was trying to shut me up, but nothing could've stopped me. I screamed and raged and let everyone know what I thought about being an unwilling vampire, and finally
,
when I had spat out every hate in me
,
I stopped and looked at
him
.

He looked a little shocked and very guilty. Maybe he hadn't realized how I felt or maybe I had gone too far. I mean, there was a lot of good stuff, too, and I didn't think that being a vampire sucked. Not all the time. And maybe now was the time to tell him that, too. But before I got the chance to say anything, Dane kneeled down and took my hands gently in his.

“Sam, I'm not proud of what we did, but it needed to be done. It's the law.”

“Screw the law,” I hissed and wiped my eyes.

Dane's eyes softened. “Sam, you killed seven people and by that you earned your place in the highest vampire society. So like it or not, you're a member now.”

I stared at him in horror and managed to whisper
,
“Seven?”

He
nodded and I moved my eyes from his. I gazed at the others and everything I saw ensured Dane's words were true. I had killed seven people. I was a murderer. I eyed the others and one by one they revealed their left arms to me. A dry laugh escaped from my lips. Great. Not only was I a murderer but I was also surrounded by murderers. I traced the lines of my sore tattoo and gulped. Quinque for five of my victims and two dragonflies for the
other
two. My eyes involuntarily scanned the bare arms around me and I slowly backed away. No! Some of them had all their arms full of tattoos and I didn't want to count them. Jonathan looked at me apologetically and I shook my head at him.

“No! I don't want this! I don't want anything to do with this. No! No! No!”

“She's hyperventilating,” Dane said dryly and pulled me up.

The others nodded understandingly and Dane took my hand roughly. I screamed for Jonathan, but he refused to look at me. I cursed him and tried to struggle free, but Dane's grip held and I could do nothing but follow him. He led me out of the room and straight to his bedroom. I inhaled sharply as he pushed me onto the bed.
“That was a stupid move,”
he
hissed
,
and my mouth dropped open.

He had changed me without
my permission;
then he had thrown me in the middle of something I didn't understand. And like that wasn't enough, he had drugged me and let someone tattoo my arm just like that. And now he accused me of being stupid. Unbelievable! In that moment
,
love was
not in my mind. Oh
no
;
I felt such burning hate
for
him I could've killed him. That is if he weren't immortal.

“Stupid?” I cried and shook my head. “You think this is funny?”

“Believe me, this is far from fun,” Dane growled, raking his hair.
He walked to
a
chest
-of-drawers
and opened the bottom
drawer
. Then with one move he leaped next to me and
,
before I could resist
,
he
c
hained me to the bed.

“You've got to be kidding me!” I shouted. “Why did you make me a vampire if I have to spend half of my time in chains?”

“It's for your own good,” Dane mumbled and I cursed him.

For a split second I thought I saw some slight hesitation before he snapped cold-heartedly
,
“Stop it, woman! What can I do to make you understand that being a vampire is not like playing safely at the playground? You are either with us or against us. And what we saw downstairs was against us. And that, my precious Samantha, might cost you your life.”

I felt paralyzed. “Dane?”

“What?”
H
e looked hurt.

“I'm sorry,” I managed to say.

“You should be,” he hissed and went to the door. “Now, stay quiet and let me try to save your pretty butt from getting condemned to burn.”

It was the wee hours before Dane came back.
“Kate's awake,”
he
said, avoiding my eyes.
He unlocked my chains in silence but left one chain on my wrist and walked me out of the room.

I pressed my tears back and followed him quietly. So, I had screwed up badly and now I was a prisoner again with no idea how to make things better. I reached for Dane's arm
,
but he moved away
quickly
. I sobbed and could've sworn his back stiffened, but he didn't slow his steps. When he reached the end of the hallway he knocked on
a
door and opened it. Kate was sitting on the bed with a glass full of blood in her hand, chatting with Alex. She looked stunning. I couldn't take my eyes off her strawberry
-
blond
e
hair
,
which
fell like a fine veil on her shoulders
,
and her skin that seemed to glow. She made strong gestures with her hands that made Alex blush and I could only guess what they were talking about.

Alex glanced at me and Kate stopped talking. Her eyes
met
mine and we stared at each other. I saw Alex touching her knee before he mumbled something to Dane and slipped out of the room. Kate didn't move. Not even when we both wanted nothing but to rush into each other's arms. Slowly
,
she moved her eyes from m
ine
to my hands, and when she saw the chain her mouth froze. She glanced angrily at Dane, and he looked at her
in
warning. Kate lowered her eyes and I flinched.

So was this how things were now? Dane could do anything to me and Kate obeyed. I swallowed and stared at the floor. How embarrassing!

Dane
attached
my chain to Kate's bed and turned.
“I'll leave you two alone for a while. I trust you won't try anything stupid.”

I nodded, but he didn't see it. His
glance
never reached me and he acted like I wasn't there.

The moment we were alone
,
Kate threw herself into my arms.
“Oh, Sam
,
I'm so sorry.”

“For what?” I asked, surprised. “I thought you wanted to be like me.”

“I did, and I'm eternally thankful for that
.
B
ut
,
Sam, I know.”