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

Saul was closest, standing between me, Ford, and Mother. Mother clawed at the mud of the steep river bank, trying to get away from me.
Coward
. White-hot rage flooded my tissues, burning my ears, my tongue, and my eyes. “Going somewhere, Mother?” I asked mockingly. She was the one who had been feeding Mercedes, seeking her out, and yet now she ran from
me
?

Saul took a sloshing step forward and closed the distance between us, angry water swirling around his thighs. He kept his eyes on me, but shouted back to Ford. “Help her up.”

Ford’s wide eyes took me in as he backed toward Mother and clasped his hands together for her to use as a makeshift step. She took his help and didn’t even bother to turn around and pull her only son to safety. From deep in my chest, a growl escaped and my fangs scraped across my bottom teeth. Coppery blood filled my mouth.
Mmmmm
.

“Ford, go!” Saul screamed.

Ford’s legs were long, so using the twisted tree roots as a foothold, he easily climbed up and away from me. My brother yelled over his shoulder, “Saul, come on! We have to get Roman!”

“What’s Roman going to do, Saul?” I asked breathily.
Roman? Roman isn’t going to do shit.

My heart thumped wildly, echoing in my ears, louder with each beat, each whoosh. I covered them with my hands, trying to make the noise go away. The light. I kept my eyes on Saul, but the sunlight was blinding me. Everything was white-yellow and intense, like I’d stared at sunlit snow for too long. I squinted. It didn’t help.

To myself, I muttered, “What
will
he do?” Would Roman attack me? I had to be ready for that. I had to be ready for anything. Would I be able to stay in Blackwater? Would I kill someone? Feed from them? Make them a husk? Dead and unwanted? Could I hurt someone I loved?

My stomach rolled, growling and angry. Hungry. I looked at Saul. “What have I done?” He was too light, like an avenging angel sent to rid the world of me. He stepped through the water and planted his feet until he was on the bank just a few feet from me. He smelled divine, but he always did. However, this was a different scent. I could smell his blood, his soul.

“You’re hungry, Porschia.”

I shook my head. It was so much more than that. He didn’t understand. No one did. No one would. “Listen to me,” he demanded. “You’re going to be okay. You’re not Infected. We’ll figure this out.”

I crouched down, balance coming so naturally to me now. My fingers were on fire. Now my cheek was, too. A bloody tear splashed onto the fabric covering my thigh, soaking in and burning the flesh of my leg.

“I promise we’re going to fix this,” he said. But the confidence he was trying to infuse his voice with wasn’t working and his voice faltered. I wouldn’t have heard it if I were still human, but with my heightened senses I could hear every distinction. I heard every intonation, whisper and nuance, every thread of hopelessness.

“There’s no ‘fixing’ this, Saul. Don’t you get it? And there’s no
us
anymore, either.”

“Yes there is,” he said gently, stepping toward me.

“Stay back!” I warned. “There’s no us. You have to let them get rid of me.”

“I will
never
—”

I squeezed more hot tears from my eyes. “You
have
to, because all I can think about right now is draining you. It’s taking all I have to keep from tearing you apart. It’s what I need.”

“Not what you want.”

I bared my fangs and my fingers shook with primal need. I wanted his blood. I wanted to erase Dara’s lips from his neck and replace the delicate swipes of her tongue with my own. My thighs quivered, not struggling to hold me up, but desperately trying not to propel me forward at him. I coiled into a ball, squeezing my ankles tight.

I tried to control myself, to stop the hunger and accept my fate.
Roman
. He needed to kill me. He would tear my head off or drain me and that would be the end of it.

No more Saul.

No more Ford.

No more Maggie.

No more Father.

No more Mother.

No more Mercedes.

No more Colony.

No more rotation, ring, feeding, pain.

No more hunger.

No more heat. No more fire. No more. No more.
No more
...

My legs could no longer obey. They needed blood. They launched me across the scant space that separated us and I sprang at Saul like a jungle cat, arms extended, fangs bared. The sound of the pulse at his neck was manna.

Saul jumped backward into the water and somehow managed to stay on his feet. Steel arms suddenly wrapped around my waist to stop my flight and I sniffed the air.
Tage
. His intrusion made my feet swing out and into the water. Frigid. Cold. The fire. It was there, but it wasn’t in my legs. My teeth chattered. “Let me go.”

“Do you really want to eat your boyfriend?” He paused. “On second thought, don’t answer that. I know you do.”

Saul had tried to run when I leapt at him, and he made it to the steep mud bank. Now he hovered over us, unable to make himself leave.

“Go!” I roared at him.

His lips pressed into thin lines and he stared, his gaze swinging between Tage and me and then back again. “Does Roman know?” Saul asked.

“He does. He’s on the way,” Tage replied with a shrug, pulling me to the opposite bank.

“Why are you stronger than me?” I gritted out.

“You haven’t fed. You’re weak.”

I scoffed. “I drained the lamb.”

“Not big enough to sate you though, right? But it did buy pretty-boy some time. You tried so long and so hard.” His baby talk was followed by a ruffle of my hair, which enabled me to escape his hand. I whipped around and dragged my nails down his jaw.

“Ouch, dammit! What was
that
for?” He blotted his face.

“For...for stopping me!”

“You’ll thank me later.” Tage winked and then pulled me away from Saul and into the forest. “Let me guess – you had a run-in with an Infected.”

“My sister.”

“Ouch,” he said, rubbing his chest.

“She bit me, and Saul yelled for me to use the ring.”

Tage’s feet stilled. “She bit you and
then
you used the ring? And it worked?”

I nipped at his face, baring my fangs, and a slow smile spread over his lips. “Your fangs are tiny.” He reached out to touch them, but I smacked his hand away.

“Don’t touch.” I ran the pad of my thumb over the sharp points. “And they aren’t tiny. They feel huge.”

“Your gums are just sore. It’ll ease when you feed,
if
you can get blood out of something with those itty bitty fangs.”

“I ate the lamb.”

“Psh. It was a baby. You need a real meal. Something big. I might have to bite it for you,” he laughed, slapping his leg.

“If you don’t help me find something soon, I might eat yo—”

From the valley, a bellow. A bear.

The wind kicked up.

Southeast.

I ran.

Tree trunks blurred. I pushed harder, despite the pain at the back of my eyes, despite my bleeding gums and bottom lip. Hunger propelled me. Like a banshee streaking through the woods, I barely registered my feet touching the forest floor. Maybe they didn’t.

“Porschia, wait!” Tage yelled from behind me. He wasn’t far behind. I could hear his arms pumping to keep up with me.

Its scent hit me from my left. I tried to glance in that direction, but the brightness of the sun through the bare trees burned and I squeezed my lids tight, moisture seeping out of them.

That way.

Run.

“Stop!” Tage screamed. I glanced back at him and then wham!

I hit a tree. Or a brick wall, I wasn’t sure. Looking up woozily, I saw it was a pine. The bark had scraped the right side of my head and ear, tearing and burning my skin. I grasped the tree to keep from falling over until Tage caught up with me and grabbed my shoulders. “You okay?” He looked me over.

“No,” I whimpered. I almost knocked myself unconscious! Could night-walkers do that?

Another bellow came from just yards away. “I
need
it. Help me?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

Tage moved like lightning. I followed him, keeping a hand pressed against my tender scalp. He reached the animal and wrapped his thick forearm around the black bear’s throat, squeezing. As the animal struggled, he held tight. “Come on,” he gritted out.

I ran toward him, unsure of what to do. The animal stilled and Tage eased it to the ground. With the lamb I had been overly confident, but a bear was intimidating. “Is it dead?”

Panting, Tage shook his head. “Unconscious. He won’t wake up any time soon. Go ahead and feed.”

“You make it sound so simple.” I stared at the bear, focusing on the rhythmic rise and fall of its chest. I could hear its heartbeat now. A gust of wind scattered dry leaves across the ground. Tage held the bear’s neck up and I crouched down, putting my arms around its neck.

I knew what to do.

My fangs pierced the layers of hair, hide, and meat. I pushed harder, pain shooting into my gums, but I couldn’t reach its artery no matter how hard I tried. I pushed again. Coarse hair tickled the inside of my nostril, but still nothing.

I pulled away in frustration. “I can’t. I can’t reach it!”

Tage stared at me with his crystal blue eyes. “This might be a problem.”

My stupid tiny fangs.
I covered my eyes with my hands where the tears burned. My stomach growled loudly. “I’m going to die if I can’t feed, aren’t I?”

“There are lambs,” he said with a small smile.

“Not enough to sate
this
feeling!” Frustrated, I stood and paced, clasping my stomach.
This
was torture.
This
was hell on earth. It truly was a curse to exist like
this
.

“I have an idea,” he said, turning to the animal.

Tage bared his fangs and sank them in deep, drinking deeply. When he raised his head, he motioned for me to come back. “Try to drink now that I’ve opened the vein.”

Again I sank my teeth in, and although I was able to get a few swallows of blood, I couldn’t get anything substantial.

“Well, that didn’t work,” Tage said, sitting back on his haunches. “Let’s try something different.”

He filled himself on the blood of the bear, whose heartbeat slowed and then stopped altogether. My fingers shook with jealousy. I wanted to tear him apart. The bear was
mine
. I heard it, tracked it, and nearly knocked myself unconscious trying to get to it. And now
he
was taking it.

My upper lip curled in warning and Tage’s eyes widened. He held up his forefinger, gulping like the greedy bastard he was.

My hands balled into fists. I was about to knock him away, to try to feed from the bear again; maybe a different vein. A shallower one would work if I could find it. Tage tore his fangs from the bear’s neck and smiled, blood coating his teeth and lips. It dripped down his chin before he swiped it away.

“Easy, tiger,” he teased, laughing and pushing himself up.

“I thought I was a kitten?”

“That was when you were human. You’re definitely a tiger now.” I raised an irritated eyebrow, to which he replied, “A tigress, pardon me.”

I bared my fangs. I would show him what kind of a tiger – or tigress – I was. The only thing that stopped me were his next words. “Feed from
me
now.”

“What?” I whispered.

“Feed from me. Humans have veins and arteries close to the skin’s surface. You should be able to feed from me.”

I stepped back from him. “You’re not human. What if I drain you? You said night-walkers could die if they were drained by another one.”