Blood Torn

by Karice Bolton

  It was Ivy.

  The pull was exactly what I felt the first night I met her, only now, the craving was much stronger.

  I quickly tore off a towel as Christy rinsed off the wound, and I leaned over Ivy’s shoulders. I tamped her finger dry and wrapped her dainty finger as she stayed still, her heartbeat speeding up with every passing second.

  “Where are the Band-Aids?” Christy asked.

  “In the bathroom down the hall.” Ivy’s voice wavered slightly as I unintentionally pressed into her.

  “Keep pressure on it, and the bleeding should stop.” I took a step back and felt like I could finally breathe again, even though that hadn’t been a phenomenon I’d needed in years.

  A breath.

  Some air.

  An extraordinary way to exist.

  Something humans needed to survive and something I only needed for amusement, a high of sorts.

  Ivy turned around slowly, holding her finger, and her gaze found mine. Her beautiful lips parted slowly.

  “The blood.” She looked at her finger and then back at me.

  My brows arched. “Yes?”

  “I thought it was a drug or a . . .”

  With you, it would be.

  I smiled and shook my head. “We’ve learned to behave ourselves so we can assimilate.”

  Her lip curved up slightly and a wave of excitement shot through me. “So, you don’t find your urge uncontrollable when there’s actual blood spilled?”

  I laughed and shook my head, completely delighted with this woman in front of me.

  “You’re under the impression that at any moment, I would be so unhinged that I would need to feed on you?” I smiled, narrowing my eyes on her. “And yet, you’re still not afraid of me?”

  “Who said I wasn’t afraid?” She cocked her head slightly as Christy bounded into the kitchen with the box.

  “I don’t sense fear.”

  Usually, I could smell it.

  Ivy took a deep breath as she unwrapped her finger and the scent of her blood coated me. Christy wrapped Ivy’s finger in a Band Aid and smiled, glancing up at me. “Heavy topic of conversation. But there, all better.” Christy grinned and shrugged. “Now, let me finish up cleaning.”

  I shook my head and reached for the broom. “It makes the most sense for me to do it.”

  Christy laughed. “The Carter Voss, sweeping in a kitchen?”

  I scowled at her as I swept the last bit of glass into the dustpan.

  Ivy shook her head and looked at Christy. “Why do you say that? As if he’s above it?”

  Christy’s smile fell slightly, and she shook her head. “It amazes me how little you know about the vampire hierarchy, especially for someone who works at the Bureau.”

  She worked at the Bureau? Did that mean she had abilities? Some mundanes had positions there, but not many.

  Ivy’s laughter rang into the kitchen, and my chest swelled with longing.

  “I can barely keep two sprites from killing me. I don’t have time to worry about blood suck—” Ivy’s cheeks reddened. “Sorry. No offense, but I don’t have time to worry about vampire games.”

  My curiosity was completely piqued at this point. “You think we play games?”

  “Absolutely.” She walked over to the table and sat down.

  “What makes you say that?”

  I was completely intrigued.

  We’d spent decades doing what the humans wanted, complying, behaving, and . . .

  “With your type roaming the world, there’s no reason for humans to exist. At any moment, you could annihilate us. You’ve come close to doing so in past centuries.” She narrowed her eyes on me. “Yet, you don’t. You keep us around as your entertainment. You play with us. You pretend we have the upper hand with your pacts, ordinances, and whatever else you signed all those years ago.” She glanced out the window to see the two sprites staring at us. “You have your own society with an apparent hierarchy, meaning you don’t plan on completely assimilating with us.” She chuckled and shook her head before shrugging.

  Violet bounded into the kitchen. “Okay, I’m finally ready.” She took a couple deep breaths. “Did you hear? That girl Jennifer we went to school with died. They said a vampire attacked her last night.”

  I glanced at Christy, who looked alarmed. The girl from the night before must be the one Violet was talking about.

  Ivy stood and walked by me before turning to look at me.

  Our eyes met across the room and she smiled. “Yeah. You vampires play games. We’re just here until you decide we’re not.”

  I watched Ivy leave the kitchen, and I knew she was right.

  Chapter Five

  Ivy

  I had to turn off the television. Everything on the news was about Jenny, the woman Christy had told me about and Violet had confirmed. The press was having a field day with the woman’s death. Normally, it would be considered self-inflicted, but for some reason, the detectives started to investigate her death as a homicide.

  And a homicide by a vampire hadn’t happened here in years, at least that they’d known about. My guess was that they were more common than the authorities wanted to believe.

  I was sick of the constant repeating of the tiniest details that led to nothing of importance, but that was how the press survived, and now commentators were taking it one step further and bringing up the age-old subject of letting vampires roam alongside humans. The fact that humans thought they had any control over vampires was alarming. The mundane world had little control over their own lives, let alone how the magical world would behave. When compared to the blood suckers, very few were on the top of the food chain, and anyone who thought they were had to be delusional.

  It also didn’t help that I knew who was next to the woman’s body when Christy showed up.

  That detail had somehow escaped the press.

  Which told me Christy and Carter were closer than I’d realized, and I understood why.

  Being that close to Carter Voss for so long was too much.

  Way too much for any mortal to handle.

  I absolutely despised vampires and what they stood for, which wasn’t much.

  But I couldn’t shake Carter Voss or the way he looked at me like I was the most fascinating woman in the world.

  Since that day, all I could think about was when he’d draped his arms over me while I was bleeding and the feelings charging through me wildly. I felt hungry for him, and there was absolutely no reason for it at all.

  I giggled to myself and let out a slow and steady breath. I’d become such a hermit in recent months that I’d suddenly decided even vampires looked good.

  It wasn’t like I hadn’t seen my fair share of good-looking vampires. I worked at the Bureau, and even though most issues dealt with pixies, witches, fae, and the like, an occasional vampire would saunter into the building. It was clear as day that one of the benefits of turning was becoming something beyond the ordinary. A person’s positive attributes were cranked up and their least perfect features downplayed. Another thing about that world I didn’t understand.

  A crazy pursuit of perfection.

  Well, that and the idea that immortality should prevail over the natural life cycle on our precious Earth.

  They had no respect for life and certainly none for death.

  The mere thought of what vampires stood for got me all riled up. I glanced around the dusty, cramped attic and let out a sigh. Trying to organize this third floor was going to be a huge undertaking.

  It had been three days since I’d last seen Carter, and since he’d left my house, things had felt off.

  I’d saged the home, recited a few incantations, and nothing cleared the air. I’d started going through boxes, but it was like he’d left a way to haunt every thought, no matter how sacred.

  It didn’t help that the very girl Christy had told me about luring Carter Voss had wound up dead. Not that I knew Carter well, but he didn’t strike me as someone sloppy. I tended
to believe Christy’s story over what the press was saying.

  For now.

  I looked in the latest box and saw a few drawings Violet and I did when we were younger and smiled when I turned them over to see my Grammy’s handwriting on the back with the dates.

  I missed her so much, it literally took my breath away.

  Enough of this.

  I closed the box and marched over to the small opening in the floor where years earlier I’d skipped a step and nearly tumbled down to the next floor.

  There were a lot of things I’d inherited from my grandma, but grace wasn’t one of them.

  As I made my way down the other set of stairs to the living room, I thought about my abilities. I’d never paid much attention to them. They didn’t seem all that practical, but I was disturbed about a few things recently.

  One being the aloe vera plant. One of my strengths in this world was keeping things alive, mainly veggies and perennials.

  I had a way with wind, rain, and thunder. All great for theatrics, but nothing to write home about.

  In junior high, I knocked a girl flat on her butt for stepping on the heels of my sandals time and again. It only took a flick of my wrist, and she flew across the hallway and slammed into the lockers. It surprised me more than it did her.

  Grammy wasn’t amused.

  Sometimes, I could even peek into people’s minds, but once, I did it on a witch who apparently could do it back, and things got nasty.

  I haven’t attempted it since.

  None of my abilities really amounted to much.

  Whether I wanted to or not, I needed to ask Lydia and Gary what I might be doing wrong. By the time I made my way to the back porch, I’d garnered enough courage to go outside and ask for their help.

  I didn’t even make it halfway to the greenhouses when Lydia flew five feet in front of me and crossed her arms.

  “What is it you want? We’ve got things handled out here.” Her tiny silver brows bent into an even tinier frown, and I swallowed down a lump. “You trying to bring more blood suckers around here?”

  I could face Carter Voss without an issue, but Lydia scared the crap out of me because I firmly believed that sprites had far more power than vampires could ever have.

  “I’m sure you’re doing wonderfully well with everything, as always,” I assured her.

  “Then what is it?”

  “I’m afraid I need some help. Grammy’s prized aloe plant is suffering.”

  Lydia craned her neck toward the greenhouses and then looked at me for a split second. “Fine. I’ll have a look as long as you promise me that the thing isn’t inside.”

  “Thing?” I asked, surprised.

  Maybe we had more in common than I’d realized.

  “Vampire,” she muttered.

  I laughed and shook my head. “Promise. That was just a fluke. I tend to hang around the mundanes.”

  “Vampires are never flukes. Their lives and moves are premeditated and only revolve around one thing in life.”

  “Blood?” I assumed.

  “Power.” Lydia scowled even deeper.

  I chuckled just as a raindrop hit my nose.

  Lydia groaned. “Let’s hurry. I hate getting spring rain on my wings. It’s full of pollen and makes it hard to fly.”

  Lydia hurried in front of me and went out of sight in a mere second as the rain began to pour.

  I quickly shut the door and met Lydia, who was already hovering over the aloe vera plant in the living room.

  She looked at me in disbelief. “You don’t know what the issue is?”

  I shook my head. “I left it right where it was, and I’ve watered it like always.”

  Lydia opened her mouth and smacked it shut, buzzing around the plant. Two leaves had completely shriveled and were barely clinging onto the stock.

  She flew over to me and remained about a foot away at eye level. “One minute the plant is fine and the next it shrivels?”

  I nodded.

  “And you can’t tell me why?”

  My eyes widened. “I’m a receptionist, not a horticulturist. Why would I know this?”

  “Because you were raised by Agatha. That’s why you should know this.”

  I shook my head.

  “What were you thinking about right before it happened?” She threw her tiny hands into the air. “The last time you were close to the plant and it was healthy. What were you thinking?”

  “Why does that matter?” I asked.

  I knew exactly what I’d been thinking.

  She squinted her eyes. “Tell me.”

  “Violet wanted to go out and flirt with vampires, and I wanted to stay home.”

  “And what were you feeling?” she prodded.

  “After I told Violet that I didn’t want to go out more times than I could count, I relented.” I shrugged. “I guess you could say I was mad.”

  Lydia’s tiny little finger flew up to my face. “And your anger damn near killed this plant.”

  I looked at her in shock. “That’s impossible.”

  “Is it?” She spun around and looked at the plant.

  “I’m pretty sure I’d know if I could go around killing plants because I’m grumpy.”

  Lydia flew around the room and landed on the couch. “Apparently not, because you can, and you did.”

  This made absolutely no sense. I’d always assumed Grammy had glamorized my powers, made them to be more than they were so that I would feel like an equal when so much of the world was full of sorcery and mystery. It’s one thing to make things a little stormy outside or flip someone’s notebook off a table from across the room, but it’s quite another to play with life and death.

  The thought sent a cold chill through me.

  I’d always thought we were more part of the humdrum—the mundane—if anything.

  Lydia became quiet, which was completely unlike her.

  Or maybe I downplayed the magic because I wanted to be nothing more than human.

  Working at the Bureau, I saw the devastation that dirty magic could do.

  Lydia wasn’t having it. “Why do you think your grandma became a naturopath?”

  I knew the answer to that.

  “She loved helping people,” I offered.

  Lydia frowned. “Of course she did, but why not a doctor of Western medicine? Why a naturopath?”

  “There’s a local school for it, and she liked using what the earth gave her.”

  Lydia wasn’t amused. “Because Agatha had the powers, Ivy. She already knew how to heal with plants, herbs, and nature. More importantly, she knew how to heal from within. But this world we live in is never one-way. You can’t be a healer unless you know how to be a destroyer.”

  I couldn’t imagine my Grammy destroying anything. She’d even hand carry spiders to the outdoors.

  I shook my head. “My life has been nothing but ordinary.”

  And I liked it that way.

  Lydia’s lips puckered. “And I’m a five-ten supermodel.”

  “I assure you that my Grammy wouldn’t have held back on this information for twenty-nine years.” I frowned. “If I were meant to harness that kind of magic, I’m positive Grammy would have made sure we were practicing along the way.”

  “Really.” Lydia fluttered over to the wall of photographs. “Ever notice how the sky gets stormy when you get angry?”

  I thought back to the bar the other night.

  “Not really,” I lied.

  The doorbell rang, and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

  Lydia whipped around and flinched when her gaze went to the window. “It’s him. The vampire.”

  My heart skipped a beat, which only made me mad.

  I straightened. “What?”

  Lydia flew toward the kitchen. “You tricked me. You tricked me. You knew he was coming.”

  And with that the back door opened and slammed.

  I let out a deep breath and stared at the half dead aloe.

  Was Lydia j
ust filling my world with nonsense?

  I hadn’t even set foot into the Nightfall Realm, and anyone with real powers had surely spent time there.

  The doorbell rang again, and I slowly made my way to the door.

  This wasn’t what I needed right now.

  As I swung open the door, my knees nearly buckled at the sight of him, which just annoyed me that much more.

  “What?” I snapped.

  Our eyes connected, and every part of me prickled with something I’d never once experienced in my life.

  “Oh, how I missed your pleasantries.” He looked to draw a breath, which I didn’t think was necessary, and smiled. “Good to see you again too.”

  I frowned as he held open his hand, and I gasped.

  “What did you do to my sister?”

  Her half of the locket dangled from his large hands.

  “Boy, you really do think I’m a monster.” He shook his head. “I found this in my car after I gave her a ride a few days ago.”

  My cheeks reddened, and I snatched the necklace. “Sorry. Bad habit.”

  He stood at the door towering over me, and I shivered. “It’s a beautiful piece of jewelry. I thought she might miss it.”

  I turned it over and smiled. My grandma wore the locket, but it was originally my mother’s.

  He didn’t wait for my answer as his gaze moved down to my locket.

  I clutched the tiny piece of metal and felt the warmth run through my fingers.

  “Why didn’t you just drop it off at my sister’s when you were down in Seattle?” I asked.

  His eyes stayed cool as he watched me carefully. “I felt like a drive.”

  “Well, thanks . . .” I dropped my hands to my side and placed my sister’s necklace on a table. “And I’m sorry about the whole eating my sister thing. I’m just a little on edge after that woman died a few nights ago. Christy had mentioned you’d called it in and—”

  Carter’s eyes darkened. “And you wonder if I killed her.”

  “Not really.” I pressed my lips together and drew a quiet breath. “I don’t think you’re that sloppy.”