New Blood (The Blood Saga Book 2) (29 page)

“I could feel her pain as if it
were my own.” My body trembled violently. Hatred for what they’d done to her.
Fear for what they could do to her still. “When the vision of the warehouse
ended she said it was time for me to learn who I am. She didn’t know we already
knew.”

I licked over my lips. The blood
tasted strange. “What happened when I was out?” I looked right into Phoenix’s
eyes only because I was sitting in Damien’s lap, and Phoenix had my direct line
of sight. Phoenix took my hand in both of his. His fingers traced a pattern left
by my own dry blood.

They looked up to one another right
past me. Damien’s chest rumbled when he spoke, “You were shaking horribly. You
were starting to scream. And then your eyes started bleeding. Your nose. Your
ears.”

Damien took a deep breath. Phoenix
kept his hands over my own snugly. He spoke next, “Your fists were gripped so
tightly you were ripping the skin of your palms back.”

Damien. “Just like your mortal
dreams, you lived their pain physically. Red marks started spreading over your
flesh and seeping blood. For every one you cried out. We didn’t know what to
do.”

Back to Phoenix. “We tried to wake
you up once but it just got worse. You started seizing. We were afraid it would
hurt you. So you drank from us both.” The strangest part was how emotionless
Phoenix was. Calm cool and collected. These are the facts, deal with it. I had
survived. That’s all that mattered to them.

The strange feeling was their blood
pulsing its way through my body. The connection was so powerful that I felt as
if I had become a part of them both.

Now I’d had Phoenix’s blood twice.
Once for nothing more than the want of it, in some hope that I wouldn’t be such
a liability to them. And where Damien had only suspected it before, I had just
confirmed that dangerous fact.

Leaning so close against him, I
felt his body go stiff, and then slump as if in defeat. Grabbing hold of my lips,
he lift me up and set me to the floor. By need was one thing. I asked Phoenix
for it. It didn’t matter how good the reason was. He stood instantly across the
room.

Standing just as fast, I turned
sharply to go to him. Two hands latched onto my hips, stopping me. “He’ll
forgive you in time.”

Damien hadn’t spoken to me in
hours. During which time Phoenix couldn’t bring himself to leave my side. I
explained in detail to him what had happened in the visions of both Neesa and
Shayla’s life, except that first intimate moment. I wasn’t able to consider
Shayla and I the same person yet.

I felt completely better by now of
course. In fact I was more than a hundred percent. I felt like a thousand and
fifty physically even though I looked like absolute hell.

Eventually everyone figured out
enough to leave the three of us all to our own. Even Ryce kept his distance
once I’d told him she was alive. Lara was watching her precognizant clock so we
would be ready when the time came. We’d made our plans. She’d give us fifteen
minutes to get into place.

Phoenix and I sat at the top of the
stairs. I couldn’t stand being in the same room with everyone else at the
moment. “This is where I died. Really died. At least the second time around,” I
sounded more thoughtful than anything.

“Demetrius was standing over me. I
was pretty torn up by then. Damien came in, and I rolled myself down the
stairs. Demetrius came down after me. If Demetrius wouldn’t have bitten me, if
he would have drank from a wound that was already open… I wouldn’t be here
today. His venom kept me alive until Damien got to me.” Placing my chin on my
knees, I looked down at the stairs, playing out the entire event in my head. He
knew this. I don’t know why I was explaining it.

Phoenix sat next to me, staring
down at the same steps as I, whilst seeing it all in my mind. “It was smart
getting them to feed from you like that. Incredibly stupid, but smart the way
you infected them all. Few humans would have had the capacity to think that
way. Let alone the guts to do it.”

I shrugged. It was the only idea I
could come up with at the time that gave Damien an advantage. “You know me,
always one to help.” He chuckled, nudging my shoulder with his own.

“You ready for this?” he asked
after a moment of pause. He meant everything. Tonight and then later. If there
was a later. “There will be a later for you, Anna. I’ll make sure of that, don’t
worry.”

“Yeah. I can hack it,” I said,
dismissing the last comment. “So you get what you want. Demetrius is looking to
get to you more than anyone.”

“Everyone else is just an order.
Demetrius and I have some unfinished business.” The way he said it felt ominous
as a strange feeling of the most abysmal grief and fury washed through him to
me. I was beginning to get very well acquainted with those two emotions. Along
with the guilt I was a walking trifecta.

Taking in a deep breath I let it
out slowly. “Okay, care to explain that?” we kept our voices so low no one
could hear.

“Not really.” He sighed. We sat in
silence for a long time. But I could still feel the same emotions radiating off
him still and growing stronger, the closer he got to the time he would see
Demetrius. “Her name was Mela. She was my soul mate.”

Fury overwhelmed the grief as he
thought on the memory. I knew this even though I couldn’t see it. For that I
was strangely grateful. So was he. I put the two together without him saying
more of course.

Demetrius had killed her. It was
too awful for a simple apology of his grief. I’m sorry for your loss doesn’t
exactly cut it when you can feel the pain like I could, and knew what it did to
him. It was the same feeling I’d had as Shayla when watching Damien die. We
each had our reasons for insisting on being here tonight. We had scores to
settle. There’d been no other choice but to take his blood. I had to be ready.

Knowing no words could ever be
enough my hand slid into his, lacing my fingers into his stiff cold hands. At
first he didn’t move but after a moment he clutched mine tightly.

Damien certainly had nothing to
worry about with Phoenix. We cared for each other deeply. Yes we even loved
each other, but not how we loved our soul mates. Whatever we were to one
another, it was not the same. Nothing could change how I felt for Damien. Just
like Phoenix would never get over the loss of his Mela. There was no one else
for him in this world.

“I won’t ever let Damien suffer
what I have,” I looked at our interlocked hands as Phoenix spoke with a
resolute vehemence.

I let myself feel his grief.
Wishing I could take it from him, but also needing to know how it felt for
myself. To know what I was really facing tonight.

“Does he know?” the whisper came
out so soft on my breath I could hardly put the words together. Phoenix shook
his head.

“No one knows the truth in it. Some
know that I lost her. But we’ve all lost people. They don’t know who she was to
me. They don’t need to.” I nodded, understanding. I could keep Phoenix’s
secrets. He needed someone to share them, and I would gladly take a part of his
burden, though I knew I could never take it all.

Lara stood and in doing so everyone
else seemed to freeze in place. “They’re coming,” she said loud enough for us
all to hear.

Phoenix squeezed my hand again
before standing and pulling me with him. Releasing me, he placed his fingers to
the small of my back as we walked down stairs. Stopping me at the stairs, he
nodded towards Damien. “Go say something to him. Maybe it’s time you told him,
Lianna.” He was right. It may be my last chance to say it.

He gave me a knowing look and then
turned to everyone else, making sure they were all ready. We had all gone over
our positions a while before. Most of us were supposed to fan out through the
house. They wanted to divide and conquer, so be it. We’d play into their hands
and spread them out so they couldn’t combine their efforts against us.

Everyone moved at once except
Damien, who was supposed to be in the now empty living room. Hendrick and Ryce
had moved all the furniture down to the basement a few hours ago. My idea.

Ryce gave me a grim look as he
passed me to head up the stairs. He was supposed to be the surprise attack.
Once up the stairs I heard him changing into the panther. It sounded gruesome.

Hendrick moved for the open
kitchen. Jezabell and Lara went to the den. Phoenix stood at the base of the
stairs, in front of the main entrance. I made my way to Damien.

They wanted me as close to Damien
and Phoenix as possible. I was to stay in the living room between them. “Damien?”

His shoulders tensed but he said
nothing to me. He didn’t even look away from the repaired window that covered
the back wall. “I’m sorry… For everything. The visions. For hurting you, and
for bringing Phoenix deeper into the mess that I am, and most of all turning
you against him.”

Still Damien would not look to me. “It’s
nothing to apologize for. It’s for the best. You can’t help who you are anyway.
Phoenix is a good enough man to look after you. He’ll protect you. He’ll teach
you things that I could not.”

There was no concern or emotion
left in his voice at all. The lack of any emotion made my body feel as cold as
ice. The feeling through the bond radiating off him was just as cold. He’d
given up on me. Just that quickly. That instantly. He was done. And he was
making damn sure I knew it. The pain of my broken heart froze me in place.

Was I supposed to not like myself for
being able to have these dreams and visions? Was I supposed to hate Phoenix
because he had done so much for me? Did he need me to apologize for who I was?
I sighed and finally my eyes fell off of him. I wouldn’t do it.

You know one thing about being upset
with a mind reader, there is no good way to argue with them. So ultimately I
said nothing. I looked out the window for a minute as well before my eyes
slowly moved over to the dying embers of the fire.

Our time together was supposed to
have been spent far closer to one another. I was supposed to tell him what I
had never been able to say to anyone before out loud.

Now I felt alone, and colder than I’d
ever been. It was a strangely secure feeling. I was well acquainted with them
both. I let it devour me.
Lianna, don’t!
Phoenix warned.

I set the demon free…

A strange feeling of guilt seemed
to overwhelm me, but it wasn’t from Damien. Looking up to the stairs, Phoenix
was watching me.

It didn’t matter though. Right now
all that mattered was surviving the night, and destroying every one of the
things coming for our blood. The creeping cold that took hold of my heart
spread through my veins, washing the burning pain away. It felt good. It felt
free. To be rid of the guilt and the pain and the hurt. Even if for just a
moment.

Anna, don’t do this to yourself. Please.
You don’t know what you’re doing.
I looked up to Phoenix blankly. He
said nothing else, nor did I.

Another moment lost in my thoughts
and I saw Damien’s body straighten away from his slack leaning position against
the wall. His hands came out of his pockets as his fingers clenched in
anticipation. It was time.

These guys didn’t seem very
creative. Unable to help myself, I rolled my eyes as the largest bay window
shattered before us. That poor window. This made twice now.

I heard the crunch of his feet land
against the shattered glass. It was Roman.
Splendid,
my demon said. He
looked past Damien to me with a sinister smile creeping over his lips. “Ahh, there’s
my girl. You miss me, kotehok? No? Well I missed you.”
I am not a kitten… I
am your death.

Damien’s snarl ripped out of his
lips, but he didn’t have the chance to go after him. Two others came in a
second later and went barreling for Damien.

My head tilted as a wicked smile
spread over my lips. Roman had his heart set on me, so I had his undivided
attention. This was going to be fun.

The front door exploded off of its
hinges, shattering the solid oak door into at least three large pieces and a
million splinters from one very solid kick. Demetrius came through the broken
doorway facing Phoenix. Fire lit his eyes. They’d been waiting for this for too
long.

Damien ripped the head off a young
African Descendant Crossbreed with short cropped hair and a scanty choice of
clothes. The body dropped out from under him leaving Damien holding a dead
head.

As Damien lunged for Demetrius, he
chucked the head at a Shifter Crossbreed with such force it caved the creatures
head in and it fell to the floor, dead.

Roman launched himself at me as I
screamed for Damien. “Don’t!” He went for Demetrius. Damien wasn’t supposed to
go after him, he knew that.

I caught a glance of Phoenix’s
furious expression just before Roman’s hands grabbed a hold of my shoulders. As
he touched me, the stabbing in my mind began again even stronger than it had
the first time. This time I was ready to take it.

Dropping to my knees I rolled over
forward, laying Roman flat on his back as I twisted away from him. Though he
lost his grip on me, his grip on my mind was strong as ever now.

“What’s the matter, kotehok?” his
tone was sickening sweet as it shot daggers into my head. As I tried to stand
the pain brought me back to my knees.

Everyone else had their own
problems to deal with as the house seemed to flood with assailants from every
direction. I was on my own now.

Roman sauntered over to me and
braced his hands on either side of my head. His arrogance would bring him to
his knees. Literally. The pain was not completely incapacitating the second
time. Even if I couldn’t shield myself, I could function around it.

My hands shot out simultaneously
against his knee caps. Instead of just two shocking impacts, I grabbed a hold
of them, squeezing until I felt the bones shatter.

Though screaming, Roman was
attempting to do the same to my head. Jerking my arms back, still holding the
grip on his broken knees, I pulled him down on top of me. The surprise made him
release my skull just as it began to fracture.

Holding tightly to his knees still,
I let my head hang back. Roman’s torso fell right against me as my mouth spread
wide, fangs ripping through his shirt and into his gut. Savagely I tore into
him like a lion into its feast.

Roman let out excruciating screams
as his hands wrapped around my arms, trying to pull my hold free. When he
failed, he gave in. Collapsing on top of me, he leaned over further. I felt his
fangs dig into my shoulder brutally.