New Blood (The Blood Saga Book 2) (23 page)

“I don’t like it,” Damien grumbled.

Men are so frustrating! “It will
work, Damien, I know it. I will go first. I’ll run. I’ll go back to the house
on foot, leave a good trail for him. You can follow me in the baby hummer.” The
Rubicon’s nickname. “It will work.”

Damien grumbled, staring at me like
I was covered in worms or something. “When did you get so hungry to fight?” His
eyes flickered back to Phoenix, narrowing accusatorily again.

“She’s right. It’s logical,”
Phoenix said quietly as he looked to me with slight smirk. He seemed almost
proud. Phoenix had trained me with many different types of combat. “I think it’s
our best chance to obtain the outcome we want. We already know he’s been back
to that house at least four times since you both left. It’s likely he’ll follow
her. Or someone will for him.”

“I don’t like the idea of you being
alone,” Damien finally said. Not completely arguing.

“I know you want to protect me but
isn’t Demetrius dead the best way to do that? This will work. You have to trust
me. I can handle myself pretty well. Don’t you think so, Phoenix?” My eyes
turned to Phoenix almost desperately. Damien’s glare followed mine. His jaw
dropped, but before Phoenix said anything he rethought it, stiffening his lips
to a straight line. He finally nodded. “Good. Then it’s agreed.”

Phoenix nodded in agreement. Damien
stood unmoving. “Fair enough. Let’s map out a plan then.” Phoenix was getting
geared up now. “Do you think they’ll have the girl with them?”

Damien nodded. “Yes, I’m sure they
will. Wouldn’t it make sense? She’s a perfect distraction, and I’m sure that’s
why they kept her instead of killing her immediately.” It felt wrong to discuss
Neesa like that.

“Sooner the better then. Tonight
perhaps?” Phoenix’s brow rose as he looked to Damien for confirmation. “Would
the others go for it that soon?”

“Hendrick will. Ryce of course,
too. He will want to go even if he’s walking dead. Lara and Jez? Well, they’re
not really necessary.” Damien sighed.

I’d have felt positively excited if
I hadn’t felt so funny. Phoenix glanced at me, his brow furrowing. “I have to
feed first.” I looked down, my hand rubbing the back of my neck uncomfortably.

“You just got back though.” Damien’s
eyes narrowed as the realization hit, and he turned to Phoenix with a snarl. “How
much blood did you take from her?” Damien was standing in Phoenix’s face now.

The feeling of vertigo hit again. I
stumbled back but they didn’t notice. Eyes blurring, I blinked a few times to
clear my vision. Distantly I heard Phoenix argue his defense as my world came
crashing down on me.

As my chest tightened it felt as if
I was being sucked down. It was happening again. Head pounding violently, my
ears seemed to scream with a strange ringing noise. Phoenix pushed past Damien
and grabbed at my arm as I lost consciousness and collapsed.

There was nothing but blackness. As
if I truly had been sucked into a black hole. I heard screaming, agonized
screaming and the sounds of fighting. Not normal fighting. The fighting of
vicious animals trying to rip each other to shreds.

Their teeth clashed against one
another. Flesh ripped and the sounds of boulders crashing into each other was
horrifying. The screaming never stopped. It was coming from Neesa.

In a haze I saw it all. Mangy blood
covered Vampires with fangs longer than their mouths could hold. They were
attacking a massive black panther. He was twice the size of a normal panther.
Ryce.

A beast of a man with midnight
flesh stood over Neesa as she lay on the ground. I recognized him at once with
his scale like flesh, his gleaming black fangs and blood red eyes.

Demetrius was attacking Neesa. She
couldn’t fight back physically, all she had was magic. She threw everything she
could at him but it wasn’t enough.

He quickly knocked her unconscious
and in one swift move threw her over his shoulder, carrying her to a large
black vehicle hidden in the trees surrounding her mother’s house.

I could still hear the fight going
on. Hissing from the large panther as it was being ripped apart. And then all
at once it ended. The panther lay unmoving.

Demetrius climbed into the back of
the vehicle with Neesa. A driver that I couldn’t see clearly started the engine
as three more bloody men jumped into the passenger doors as they took off.

As if I were a ghost, I watched
from above. Watching but unable to react in any way. Neesa was gravely injured,
but I could see her still breathing. No one spoke that I could hear.

They drove for a long time before
slowing down, pulling into a large darkened warehouse. The doors opened and
lights began to flip on inside the warehouse.

As Demetrius climbed out I realized
he had morphed out of the familiar monster I knew him to be. Instead he stood
as a man. His skin was still dark as midnight.

A ragged looking burly man handed
him a cell phone before pulling Neesa out and letting her drop to the concrete
floor with a thud.

Demetrius held the phone to his ear
and listened. Amazingly I could hear it all. “Remember, no one touches the girl.
I need her alive. Soon they will be bringing you another one. That one is just
bait. You can have her when it’s over. Use these gifts wisely, Demetrius. Keep
your men on watch. They’ll make a move soon.”

Demetrius grunted wordlessly. “I
want someone watching their property at all times. If any of them leave, follow
them. Make sure this is done thoroughly, Demetrius. I want them dead.” Each
word was over enunciated. I. Want. Them. Dead.

“Bring Phoenix, D’Tera and the New
Blood to me. The rest are yours for the slaughter. Enjoy it my pet.” Demetrius
grunted a wordless agreement again as the phone disconnected.

Just then another car pulled into
the garage. Demetrius just watched. The black car came to a stop in front of
him. A man in a torn up business suit stepped out and went to the truck,
unlocking it with a key.

Another man came to join Demetrius.
I could tell immediately he was a full blooded Vampire. Demetrius yelled for
him, “Roman. You’ve got the girl?”

A sickening grin spread his lips as
he nodded. “Yeah, I got the little bitch.” Walking around to the trunk as it
opened, he pulled a girl out of the trunk and tossed her over his shoulder.

Carrying her over to where Neesa
lay unconscious he dropped the limp one down next to her. As her head hit the
concrete it made a sickening thud. It was Melody.

All other sounds faded out and her
voice overwhelmed me. Neesa was begging me, “Anna. You have to help me, Lianna.
They’ll turn me soon. I can’t be one of them. Please help me. You’re the only
one that can.”

The image was fading as I was
heaving, sliding into blackness. As it was fading I realized I was screaming.
Loud, ear bleeding screams painfully ripped from my throat. Surrounded by total
blackness, my eyes were burning and too blurred for me to see.

My mind felt like it was clouded.
It was a strange sensation. Not unlike a time I experienced excruciation first
hand.

Ice cold hands held against my face
firmly. “Anna, look at me, Anna. Focus. Listen to me. Come on, wake up and look
at me. Come back to me, Anna,” the voice kept repeating. It kept calling to me.
It sounded so far away.

Body jerking I bolted upright
suddenly. My hands latched around the wrists of those on my face trying to push
him away, though I could hardly make my body respond.

The blackness was turning to red.
My eyes were in a haze. I kept blinking to try to remove the ruby blur from my
vision.

Damien’s hands took lightly to my
shoulders. He held me steady and firm but always gentle. Of course we were not
alone. I looked around to see everyone standing there watching. Groaning in
aggravated annoyance, I always hated being the center of attention. When it was
something embarrassing I loathed it.

Lara and Jezabell looked concerned
or maybe horrified would be a better description. Fortunately I didn’t see Ryce
looming nearby. Hendrick looked positively panicked. In fact I had never seen
so much worry in his eyes. It made him look older.

Phoenix looked intrigued yet his
features were incredibly stern. Was he worried, or angry? He stood as close as
possible without crowding us. He eyed me closely.

“What happened? Where is she? Where’s
Ryce?” Damien looked confused as he drew me closer. I saw red smears where I
had been laying in his lap. They covered most the front of his shirt.

Raising a hand, I rubbed over my
eyes to discover my face was covered in blood.
Hell
. “Where is he?” I
demanded again looking around though it was still hard to see.

“He’s resting for tonight. Shifters
heal faster when they sleep,” Damien’s voice was barely a whisper as he tried
to sooth me.

“I saw her. I saw Neesa and Melody.
They have them both. We have to go tonight. We can’t wait or they’ll come here.
I gotta go. They’re gonna kill them. I gotta go. She needs me I can’t let them
turn her,” I was rambling faster than I ever had before.

I tried to stand up but Damien held
me down. “You’re not going anywhere. What happened, Anna? You saw who took
Neesa?” His hands came up to wipe the blood from my eyes gently.

As if on cue Lara handed him a wet
wash cloth. Damien took it to clean my face, but I pushed his hand away harshly
as I tried to get up from the floor again. Hendrick’s hand clamped hard on my
shoulder keeping me down.
Owe.

“I saw everything.” My eyes
clinched shut. As I did I saw the images flash through my mind again. I shuddered
almost violently.

Looking up I realized Damien and
Phoenix had picked up the violent thoughts, though not clearly. They didn’t get
images very well or very often.

They mirrored what I felt. Anger.
Raw, seething fury. A burning desperation to save those innocent girls and rip
those responsible limb from limb. They felt it for themselves because it’s how
I felt. “You see it now? Good! Help me!”

Turning to Damien I pleaded,
rambling without another pause, “I saw what they did to her mother. I saw them
attack Neesa and Ryce. And I saw where they took them, and there was another
car. They had Melody, and she was unconscious, and they just threw her around.
Both of them. Like they were nothing. I don’t even know if Melody could survive
after hitting her head like that on the concrete.” Forgetting to breathe my
voice grew high pitched and squeaky, cracking badly. Damien brushed his fingers
over my mouth. I’d ran out of breath and my words had become silent but my
mental rambling kept right on going like a broken record. Not mocking me in the
slightest Damien mouthed the word breathe silently. Deep breath.

“Were you trying to do this? It
didn’t look like you were focused at all on connecting to anyone.” I pushed his
hand away from me as he tried to wipe the blood from my cheeks again.

“I don’t know it just sucked me in
while I was talking to you guys about what to do, and then suddenly I just got
dizzy, everything went black. Then I saw everything. This wasn’t the same as it
was before. This was different… I think… I think somehow Neesa triggered it.
Like she was calling to me for help. She asked me to save her. She begged me
not to let them turn her,” now my voice cracked for an entirely different
reason. “Would you all please quit staring at me?!” Snarling, I stood up so
fast I nearly toppled. But I got away from the crowd.

Moving quickly away to stand across
the room by the doors opened to the veranda, I started pacing. “They sent
someone to watch the property. They’ll move soon. I heard them talking.”

“It could be a set up. It may not
have been Neesa who triggered this at all. You saw what they did to me the
first time. They forced me to leave that house under false pretenses then. They
could be trying to do the same with you now,” Damien spoke from a few feet
behind me.

“No. Not this time. It was Neesa.
Don’t bother asking how I know, I just do. But this is a good thing. Whoever
was sent to watch us was directed not to attack. Just to keep tabs and follow
if anyone left. They will see me head back to Vermont. They’ll follow, and
things will go better according to plan.” My hope sounded afraid.

Phoenix brushed past Damien. I
heard a low growl behind me, and felt him move closer. Perhaps it was because
Phoenix had fed from me more recently but it seemed we were more connected than
Damien and I were.

He handed me a metal water bottle,
one I favored. I hated the crystal goblets and fancy wine glasses. I broke them
too often ,and they made me feel snobby. Of course he would know that.

“If they’re watching us then you
can’t go hunt. Drink. You’ll feel better. Sides, it’s human.” My brows lift in
mild surprise. It was rare he let me drink the human donor stuff. For weeks he’d
been giving me some here and there to help build my tolerance. At first Phoenix
had given it to me a few drops at a time mixed with bore blood. A few times when
we’d already planned to spend the day together he’d given me more than a few
pints. Nodding my thanks, I brought the bottle to my lips and drank it down. “Especially
if we’re leaving tonight,” Phoenix finished.

Damien grumbled in a low growl. It
pushed me right over the edge. The blood may have helped the trip.

Viciously I turned on Damien. Blood
splashed down my lips as I jerked the bottle away too abruptly. “Don’t! He
doesn’t need to keep saying it. There is nothing going on with him and me. He
is my friend, and he’s shown that more than anyone else in this forsaken place!
I don’t want to hear any more of your low growls or snarling over the fact that
we’re bonded! You can drop the childish dirty looks! Get over it! You’re not
warning him. You’re making me feel like you can’t trust me. Which is really
pissing me off.”

Finishing the bottle quickly after
that I handed it back to Phoenix. Everyone stared at me shocked into stone cold
silence. Except Phoenix who stood there obviously feeling a bit awkward. “Oh
don’t look at me like that! The rest of you already know. There’s no damned
secrets in this House.” I grumbled irritably. “Self-riotous bastards. I’m going
upstairs to get dressed and then I am leaving. I don’t care who comes with me
anymore. I’m tired of that bitch killing me and my friends. It ends now.” I
moved past them as swift as possible, not stopping until I was in Damien’s bedroom.

Stripping the torn and bloody black
lacy long sleeve off quickly and the designer pants, too, I left them strewn
across the floor where I walked. Step by step to the closet I shed layer after
layer until there was nothing left to shed.

I chose the best jeans possible.
They were soaked in my human blood. Damien knocked on the closet door. Ignoring
him completely, I buttoned the jeans and grabbed a bra from the drawer of
overly frilly lingerie, but it did the job.

As I pulled it up my shoulders,
Damien clasped it behind me. Without a word, I tore through the racks, looking
for anything that didn’t shimmer. It was a moment before I came to the plain
shirts. Grabbing a black tank top I pulled it on over my head.