Thirst (19 page)

“Ava!” A familiar
voice brought me back into the world. I groaned as pain hit me as
hard as a wall. “Jesus! Look at her!” It was Peter.

“Not possible,” I
tried to say, but my mouth was too swollen.

I opened my eyes
and saw a vague shape ahead of me, but my vision was blurred and
scarily bad.

“You went too
far, Maximus,” a woman’s voice said. A figure leaned over me and
poured more liquid into my mouth. Blood, tasting wonderfully
citrusy. I instantly felt further away from death. My vision
cleared, but the figure was gone. I blinked at the ceiling,
focusing on the lights and listened instead.

“It’s nothing to
do with you,” Maximus was saying.

The woman
hesitated, as if waiting for him to apologise. When he didn’t, she
spoke again, her voice harsher this time. “I’m leader for a reason.
Do I need to put manners on you yet again? I want her out of
here.”

I tilted my head
and saw a group of people a few feet away. Daimhín, Eddie, Peter,
Carl and even my grandmother. My head swirled in confusion. How was
that possible?

“She’s mine,”
Maximus said, his tone sulky.

“I claim her,”
Daimhín said.

“Why? To kill
her?”

“Probably,”
Daimhín said. “But Eddie here has an interesting proposal. I’d like
him talk to the girl right now.”

Maximus made an
infuriated noise but didn’t stop Eddie as he approached me along
with Peter.

“Ava,” Eddie said
under his breath. “Daimhín is willing to take you from here. All
you have to do is agree to work for her.”

I shook my head
slightly. From one monster to another, how was that making it
better? Eddie made a frustrated sound, and Peter moved closer to
me.

“I know what
you’re thinking,” Peter said. “But my rule is this, do what keeps
you alive right now and figure out the rest later. We’ll think of a
way out, but for now we have to do what we can to get you out of
this mess. Listen to Eddie this time.”

I stared at
Peter, but I felt numb. I didn’t know what was right
anymore.

“She said yes,”
Eddie called out.

“Did she really?”
Daimhín asked. I couldn’t tell if she was happy or disappointed. I
couldn’t work for the one woman who wanted me dead. At least
Maximus needed me alive, whether he had the self-control to keep me
that way or not. I gazed at Peter pleadingly, but he shook his
head. “Yeah, she agreed,” he told them all. I heaved a weary sigh,
my chest spiking with pain.

“Let’s get her
out of here then,” Daimhín said. She lifted me carefully and
carried me past my grandmother and Carl. She seemed physically
okay, but Carl had a bloody bandage wrapped tight around one wrist.
It barely registered that I must have drunk his blood.

Daimhín carried
me to her own car, giving me the chance to take one last look
around. A whole fleet of cars had been parked outside; it looked
like she’d brought along an army. Maximus didn’t dare challenge
her. He just stood there swearing instead. I knew the others were
following, but only my grandmother was allowed in Daimhín’s
car.

“Drive to her
apartment,” ordered Daimhín. The woman in the passenger seat
inclined her head then gave me a quick glance. I realised she was
Peter’s girlfriend. Daimhín’s assistant? I blacked out before I
could process the thought.

I woke in my own
bed. Aching all over, I licked my lips and tasted blood. I tried to
sit, but my entire body protested so I gave up.

“You feeling
okay?”

I tried to look
around without moving my head. Carl sat beside my bed, big black
bags under his eyes. His stubble was turning into a proper tawny
beard. I tried to speak, but no sound came out. I rolled my eyes
instead. It was a stupid question, anyway.

“Hold on, I’ll
get help.”

Like I was going
anywhere. My eyes closed again, but before I could lose myself
completely, voices filtered through the film of pain around me. A
cool breeze blew on my neck, clearing my head. Opening my eyes, I
saw Eddie holding a blood bag over me. I tried to mouth the word
no, but he ignored me. I was terrified of being overwhelmed by the
thirst. I didn’t want to feed the built-in addiction I was carrying
around with me.

“Take this
quietly, Ava. You’ll heal faster this way. All the damage is on the
inside.”

I opened my mouth
obediently as he carried on speaking, his tone hypnotic.

“We’ve been
forcing it down you for days now. You’ve been unconscious for that
long. We couldn’t take you to the hospital because your fangs
wouldn’t retract. Besides, a human doctor can’t fix a supernatural
being.”

Days. How many
days? Not that it mattered. I was alive. I hadn’t expected to get
out of Maximus’s place alive.

“If you took some
fresh blood, from the source, you would heal up much more quickly,”
he said. “They won’t let it happen until you agree, though. What do
you think?”

I shook my head
as hard as I dared, glaring at him. The bagged blood didn’t taste
quite right, but it was better than knowing someone in my life cut
themselves open to feed me.

I slept after I
drank, but the pain wracking my body was less excruciating than
before.

When I next woke,
it was night. My grandmother sat by my bedside, wide awake and
alert. She looked better than the last time I’d seen her, but she
was pale, and her head was still noticeably wounded with a deep
cut. The bruise around her eye had turned yellow and somehow that
looked worse to me.

“Come ‘ere,” I
mumbled. She leaned over me like I was about to say my last words.
I raised my hand to my lips as slowly as possible then licked. She
cocked her head, looking first confused and then disturbed as I
pressed my wet fingers to her wound. I watched it heal rapidly. She
felt the area with cautious touches, her eyes widening as she
realised what I’d done.

“Wow.”

I nodded
carefully, surprised to find my body wasn’t as stiff as
before.

“You were very
brave, Ava. I was so proud. I’m sorry I let myself be taken. I
mean, I opened the door to a bunch of vampires without even
realising it.”

“Doesn’t matter.
I was screwed either way. They would have gotten to me somehow.
Better to go to them than wait in fear for the rest of my
life.”

I cleared my
throat. It felt better. I sat up, careful not to move too fast. I
was in my own bedroom but everything looked different, I couldn’t
put my finger on why.

“So what happened
when you left Maximus’s place?”

She looked away
and frowned. “The vampires drove me to Peter’s house, but they
wouldn’t let me call you. Peter was frantic. Eddie was already
there, they were all trying to figure out what had happened. Eddie
decided we could only beat Maximus’s coven by using someone bigger
and better.” She pulled her arms around herself, as if guarding
herself from her memories.

“So, it was
Eddie’s idea?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said.
“He organised a meeting with Daimhín, but she warned him not to go
near the coven during the day or she’d be forced to act against
him. He persuaded her it would be better to use you than let
Maximus keep you. She thought about it and said she had a few jobs
for you, if you were willing. We had to wait until night again. It
was awful.”

“Looks like
everything’s all figured out for me.”

“Oh, don’t worry,
Ava. Peter said as soon as we got you back, we’d figure out how to
get you away from Daimhín safely. We’ve all been discussing it
while you were unconscious. I’m glad you have so many people ready
to take care of you.”

I avoided her
eyes. I remembered it differently. My grandmother didn’t seem to
notice.

“Daimhín actually
seemed reasonable,” she continued. “For a vampire. The other one
though, he’s crazy. I thought he would kill me for breathing too
loud.”

“Yeah, he seemed
pretty unstable to me too. Listen, I’m tired, go get some sleep,
okay?”

She nodded then
kissed my forehead. When she left, I tried to think. The cold
breeze was gentle now, as delicate as a kiss on my
cheek.

“Thanks,” I said
out loud, then felt stupid. I was still worried about Daimhín. What
if she wanted me to murder babies or something sick like that?
Although she was more in control of herself than Maximus, he was
ridiculously unbalanced. Being away from him was looking like the
better option. But if I was around him, there was more chance of me
getting my own back.

Peter and Carl
visited me soon after, Carl carrying a bunch of flowers. I eyed his
still bandaged wrist in concern. Peter asked me how I was, but I
wasn’t in the mood for pleasantries.

“Did you set me
up?” I asked him.

“What?
No!”

“So it’s a
coincidence that the infamous day assistant that everyone’s been
talking about just so happens to be your girlfriend? A fact I
discovered after you told Daimhín I’d work for her?” My voice shook
with anger, the idea he might have betrayed me consumed my
thoughts.

“It’s not like
that,” Peter insisted, shaking his head.

“What’s it like
then?” I said.

“I don’t have to
explain myself to you.” His eyes turned hard, and he stormed out of
the room slamming the door behind him.

“He wouldn’t do
something like that,” Carl said.

“Don’t even talk
to me, look at what you did,” I said, pointing at his
wrist.

He fidgeted,
looking bashful. “You needed help, I could give it, so I
did.”

“You could have
been killed; cutting yourself in a room full of vampires. What were
you thinking?” I couldn’t believe how reckless he was.

“I’m not like
Peter. I helped you the only way I could. I’ll leave, I’m sorry.”
Carl hurried to the door, but I called him back. He hesitated,
ready to run.

“Wait, Carl. I...
thank you. For helping me.” I felt guilty for not allowing him to
have his hero moment. He gave me a meek smile then hurried off,
leaving me alone to sleep again.

I was woken a
while later by someone gently shaking my shoulder. I opened my eyes
to see Daimhín, accompanied by her assistant, Peter’s girlfriend. I
glowered at that one, feeling just as betrayed again.

“I wanted to pay
a visit to my newest employee,” Daimhín said, her cold face as
unreadable as stone. “How are you feeling?”

“Alive. Sort
of.”

“Did you tell him
how you were created?” She got straight to the point, but after
Maximus’s theatrics, I appreciated her bluntness.

I shook my head
slightly. “No, of course not.”

“Even while you
were tortured?” She was persistent, but for once, I was sure of
myself.

“He would have
stopped torturing me if I talked,” I reminded her.

“Somehow, I doubt
that.”

“Whatever. I
didn’t tell him anything. I don’t tell people that stuff,” I
said.

“Good. I still
have an advantage over him then. I have you.”

“I thought you
wanted me dead.” But she was in my home; that shouldn’t have been
possible if she wished me harm.

“I do, in
theory,” she said. “But if I think a daywalker will be useful, I
keep them. Like a pet.”

“I’m not a pet.”
I was furious by the nonchalance in her words.

She inclined her
head. “Probably not. I’ve been looking for you for quite some time,
and now you’re working for me. Strange how things work out.” She
laughed. “There are occasionally things I’d like done by people
like you. I think you’ll enjoy the first job, actually.”

She smiled so
suddenly, I wanted to flinch. I did my best to keep still. Daimhín
was not someone I wanted to show weakness in front of.

“What’s it like?”
she asked.

“What?” The quick
change in subject confused my already dull thinking.

“The sun. It’s
been a long time. What’s it like for a vampire to walk in the
sun?”

“I’m not a
vampire either,” I said, my teeth clenched.

“No, I suppose
you’re not. Not really. Ms. Delaney, it’s crucial that no vampire
learn how you came about. The world is better off without this
knowledge.”

“As are you. I
mean, you stay in control, right?”

“True,” she said,
nodding her head. “But it just so happens that the greater good and
my goals coincide for once. Let’s keep it that way. You stay loyal
to me. And I’ll stay loyal to you. I don’t want you around me so
often, you know. I’d like to keep you away from vampires, full
stop. But if I need you, you have to come running. That’s the
deal.”

Her icy blue eyes
pierced into me. I had the sudden fear that she could read my mind.
The way the corner of her mouth curved upward into a smirk didn’t
help.

“If my family and
the people around me stay safe from your kind then we have a
deal.”