“So, I’m just a game to you now? Is that it?” I asked, trying not to let myself feel the sting of his words, but they were as painful as a third-degree burn.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing. Don’t you like playing games, angel?”
I refused to answer his question; to play this game of cat and mouse with him. Instead, I tried to reach out to him through our connection—to feel his emotions through the bond that tethered us together—and pull him back to me, but there was nothing there for me to feel. It was as though the cord had been cut and was flapping hopelessly in the wind with nothing but air to hold onto.
“Why can’t I feel you anymore?” I asked, needing for him to make sense of this for me.
He smiled lazily. “Because I don’t feel anymore.”
My stomach twisted and turned, threatening to spill over, though I was fairly certain I had nothing in there to spew but bile. “So, you have no feelings for me?” I asked quietly, needing for him to say the words to me. To obliterate any remaining hope I may have been holding onto.
His eyes darkened. “Oh, I have plenty of feelings for you, temptress, just not the kind you’re looking for.”
I pulled in a steadying breath. “And the bloodbond?”
“What about it?”
“Are we still bonded?” I asked curtly, growing tired of his games.
“Would you like us to be?” He smiled.
“Answer the damn question, Dominic.”
He glanced up at the ceiling as though the truth were engraved somewhere on it. “Let’s just say our bond is stronger than ever.”
Confusion swirled around my brain, fogging everything up. I had no idea what that even meant—what any of this meant. If he had no emotional connection to me, then how was the bloodbond still surviving? And why was he even here? Why bother healing me? None of this made a lick of sense. Unless…maybe there was still a small part of him that felt something for me—that was fighting to come back to me. Maybe the man I loved was still in there somewhere, buried beneath the demon that had been given free rein to over his body.
“I still love you,” I admitted softly so that no one but the two of us would hear. “I know you’re still in there, Dominic, and I won’t give up on you.”
He tilted his head back and laughed, a maniacal laugh that turned my blood to ice as the hospital room door swung open and then crashed into the wall. Gabriel took one look at Dominic, his eyebrows smashed together in an angry scowl and his jaw clamped down in a hard line, and then he charged across the room.
My heart seized as Gabriel grabbed his brother by the neck and hoisted him off the chair before slamming him into the window behind them. The glass splintered from the impact, silently threatening to shatter all over them.
“I warned you,” growled Gabriel, his voice a terrifying rumble at the back of his throat.
Dominic continued to grin, the smile never leaving his face for even a moment. “I don’t take orders from you, brother. You should know that by—”
Gabriel rammed him into the window again and this time, the glass exploded behind them, raining down on the brothers like a bucket of confetti tossed into the air.
“You’ve gone too far,” said Gabriel as he drew a stake from his leather jacket and sliced the air with it, but Dominic was already ten steps ahead of him.
My heart leapt into my throat as Dominic’s wolf form kicked off his hind legs and pounced on Gabriel, pushing him to the ground and then slashing his face with his clawed paw. Four thick gashes bloomed red on Gabriel’s cheek as the angry wolf climbed off him and then hopped up on the window ledge, tossing one final glance in my direction and then hurling himself out the window.
Gabriel jumped back up to his feet and ran after him to the window, but it was too late. I didn’t need to look to know that Dominic had stuck his landing and was already riding off with the moon.
Gabriel cursed to himself as he stared out the window. “Did he hurt you?” he asked without facing me.
I could see his nostrils flaring and I knew he was trying to come down from the adrenaline. “No. I’m fine.”
He turned and looked at me, his pained eyes flicking over me as if searching for wounds. Well, other than my burn scars. There was so much guilt and remorse in his eyes. I could practically taste it on my tongue.
“I’m fine, Gabriel,” I said again, knowing he needed to be reassured that his being late had not put me in mortal danger. “Just me and my disfiguring scars,” I added and while I’d wanted to make light of the situation, neither one of us bothered to smile.
“You’ve earned those scars,” he said as he strolled over to my bedside. “And while they will heal in time, you should wear them proudly until then.”
I smiled at that. He always had a way of making me see the bigger, brighter picture. “Thank you, Gabriel. For everything. Trace told me what you both did for me.” I didn’t bother telling him that Dominic had still managed to find a way to get to me anyway. He didn’t need to know his selfless act had been in vain.
“You look much better,” he noted, his eyes taking my features in again.
I nodded. “And I’ll be even better once I get out of here.”
“How long until you’re released?” he asked.
“Depends.” I smirked. “How fast can you get me out of here?”
He grimaced at my question. “I think you should wait until your doctor gives the okay.”
“What for? They just want me to rest and take it easy, and I don’t need to be here to do that.”
He furrowed his brows as he considered it. “Is this about Dominic? Because he’s not going to come back tonight, and I won’t leave your side until—”
“It’s not that,” I interjected, because while Dominic was certainly a major problem, I wasn’t scared of him. If he wanted to kill me, he would have already done it, or at least tried to. Whatever Dominic had planned for me, it didn’t involve killing me. At least not for now. “I’ve been in the hospital long enough. I need to get back to my life and get ready for whatever’s coming, and I can’t do that from a hospital bed eating Jello all day.”
He pulled in a breath and then nodded. “Fine, but if you so much as cough the wrong way, I’m checking you back in myself.”
“Deal.” I kicked the sheets off my legs and lifted my arm to him. “Now help me get these things off me.”
He made a face letting me know he didn’t think this was a good idea and then helped remove every wire and tube from my body with perfect, painless precision.
“Can you walk?” he asked, eyeing me suspiciously.
“I might need your help, but you’re going to have to take care of something first.”
“Such as?” he asked, confused.
The door burst open just as he finished his question.
“Them.”
31. BEAST OF A BURDEN
A gentle rain rapped against the windows as Gabriel walked me into his living room and then settled me down on his sofa. Even though I hadn’t been in Gabriel’s dingy apartment for what felt like ages, there was still something kind of comforting and nostalgic about being back in his place. It was nice being off the main grid and away from all the chaos and bustle of Hollow Hills.
“Are you hungry?” he asked me as he wrapped a throw blanket around my shoulders. “I can order some food for you.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think I can eat just yet,” I answered, still feeling the rawness of my throat when I spoke. Not to mention the giant pit in my stomach. Food was the last thing on my mind.
“How about a soup or something to drink?” he asked, looking down at me as though I were a wounded kitten and not the powerful Slayer he knew me to be. I didn’t like it when he looked at me like that.
“There is something I want…but you’re not going to like it.” I chewed on my lip as I watched his eyebrows bundle together in unease. “Don’t freak out, but I need you to give me some of your blood.”
His eyes al
l but bulged out of his head. “I beg your pardon?”
Crap. I knew he’d make a big deal of it. “Come on, Gabriel, don’t look at me like that. I need to get back on my feet, like yesterday, and this is the only way I know how to do that.”
The truth was, I couldn’t afford to spend the next few days in bed recovering like a mere mortal. The Horsemen were readying themselves for our slaughter and I had to be out there on the front lines. I had to be ready for them at all costs and I couldn’t do that if I was wasting time recovering the normal way.
I speared him with judgy eyes. “Or have you forgotten what’s coming?”
“Of course not,” he answered sternly, but the look of horror never left his face. “You almost died in the Veil, Jemma. Don’t you think you should take some time to rest?”
“Not when they’re still out there, heading straight for us.” That is, if Pricilla’s intel was correct, which I was assuming it was. “Besides, I’ve been resting for the last two weeks.”
He gaped at me. “Being on life support is hardly considered resting.”
“Well, it has to be when The Four Horsemen of the Fucking Apocalypse are gunning for you. And now with the book being a total bust—”
“It’s not a total bust,” he cut in, naysaying every damn point I was trying to make.
“Are you serious?” I glared at him. “They can’t even read the damn thing, Gabriel!”
“Not yet. But there’s still time.”
But there wasn’t. Not enough of it to quell the gaping hole in the pit of my stomach.
“Why are you fighting me on this? We both know I need to prepare myself. I need to be ready to fight. I need to be…doing something,” I explained, not even bothering to hide my desperation. “I can’t just sit here and wait for them.”
Gabriel of all people should’ve understood that. This was exactly the kind of mentality he wanted me to have, the kind of Slayer he’d trained me to be, so why was he being so difficult now?
“I understand that, I do, but bloodsharing is…it’s not the way.” He shook his head as though we were talking about devil worship.
“Why not?” It seemed like the easiest fastest solution to me, so what the heck was his problem? Granted, Gabriel was definitely more on the uptight side of things, but this was way out of character, even for him. Unless… “Wait. Are you worried we’ll get bonded or something?” I asked, unsure of where the hesitation was coming from. “Because it takes a lot more than just one exchange for that to happen.”
“I’m aware of that,” he said, avoiding my eyes as he crossed his arms.
“Then what is it?” I searched his face for answers. “I mean, you’ve done it before, right? What’s the big deal?”
He met my eyes and grimaced. “I haven’t done it before,” he corrected huffily as though I should’ve already known that. “I don’t feed off humans and I most certainly don’t feed my blood to others.”
Of course he didn’t. Gabriel hated everything about what he was, especially the blood that coursed through his veins. I should’ve known better than to assume he went around giving taste tests of his blood. Still, that wasn’t going to stop me from getting what I knew I needed.
“You’re the only person I can go to for this right now and I need to be at full strength,” I pleaded, trying to appeal to his sense of logic. We both knew what was coming, and that needed to trump all else at the moment. “I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t absolutely necessary.”
He met my eyes as he considered it. I could see the hesitation was still there, but it was less than before. Honestly, I wasn’t sure why he was so up in arms about it. The benefits far outweighed the consequences and we both knew I was right.
“Please, Gabriel,” I pushed, hoping my plea would push him over the edge.
Without saying another word, he brought his wrist to his mouth and clicked out his fangs. My heart galloped wildly, having already learned the correlation between vampire teeth and pleasure a long time ago. But alas, I knew those teeth were not meant for me.
Biting down into his wrist, he drew two plumes of blood and then sat down on the coffee table in front of me. My eyes were fixed on the red, medicinal liquid as it bloomed from his ashen skin.
“I’m doing this solely for you, Jemma, and not because I’m okay with it,” he informed in a gentle voice and then extended his arm to me.
My hands immediately clamped his arm, my fingernails digging into his skin as I pulled his wrist to my mouth and pressed my lips against his skin. Gabriel made a strange groan-like noise at the back of his throat as I began drawing blood from him, but I was too consumed with what I was doing to pay any real attention to it.
With every drop I swallowed, I could feel his blood running through my system, healing it, strengthening it, making me newer and better than I was before. And the high—it was utterly magical, like a shot of whiskey, a first kiss and an orgasm all rolled into one.
I sucked down harder and looked up at him. His jaw was pressed down hard, and his eyes were glazed over with something foreign and unreadable—something I’d never seen in his eyes before.
“Jemma,” he gritted out, a warning for me to stop, but I hadn’t had my fill yet.
How could I be done with something that made me feel that good? Something that repaired all the tattered pieces from the inside out and electrified the blood coursing through my veins.
I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. I fucking needed it.
Gabriel tried to pull his arm away, but I moved with it, refusing to let go. Panicked, he yanked his arm back and I jerked forward with it, landing myself in his lap as I held onto his wrist with everything I had.
“That’s enough,” he boomed and ripped his wrist from my mouth as he held me back with his forearm.
Holy shit.
I squeezed my eyes shut as his blood continued to run through my system, invigorating everything it touched and filling me up with brand new life. My veins felt as though electricity was running through them, as though I might combust from being overpowered if I didn’t slow down and catch my breath.
Gabriel dropped his forearm that had still been pressed against my chest and I opened my eyes. His pupils were fully dilated, and his hand was opening and closing into a tight fist as if to force his veins to replenish the blood I’d taken.
It was clear that I had taken too much, but I couldn’t seem to feel any remorse for it. “I’m sorry,” I said, though my apology was nothing more than empty words because I wasn’t sorry. I’d wanted more, so much more, and I wasn’t sure what that said about me.
He shook his head, trying to absolve me of my guilt. “I just need a moment.”
A pang of guilt kissed my insides as I climbed off his lap and returned to the sofa. As hard as it was to see him like this, I resisted the urge to offer him some of my own blood. For one, I knew he’d turn it down, and two, it would completely defeat the purpose of taking his blood in the first place since I’d surely be off to never-never land for the next few hours and those were hours I couldn’t afford to lose.
“Is there anything I can do?” I asked, my cheeks pink with shame.
He shook his head and met my eyes. “I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me, Jemma.”
I nodded because I knew I didn’t. Gabriel always had his feet planted firmly on the ground no matter how many times the world went up in flames around him. “I’ll make this up to you,” I vowed and then stood up from the sofa.
“Consider the debt already paid.” He offered a meager smile and then gestured over his shoulder. “Now get to work.”
I leaned down and pressed a kiss against his cheek and with that, I left his apartment feeling a hundred times better than when I’d walked in. The way I felt in that moment, I was ready to take on the world.
Or, you know, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
32. ANGEL EYES
It was nearly ten o’clock at night by the time I made it to Temple. Under normal circumstances, Temp
le would be locked down for the night, but with everything that was going on, I knew there’d be more than a few Descendants working into the wee hours of the night to try and get ahead of this thing.
I knocked on the Senior Magister’s door and then let myself in.
He was seated at his desk with two Councilmen across from him. “Jemma, please, come in.”
“I’m sorry to barge in like this,” I said, glancing at the other two men, “but I need to speak to you right away.”
“Yes. Of course.” He stood up from his desk and excused himself. “We can talk outside.”
Nodding, I exited his office and waited for him to join me. After closing the door, he pressed his hand to the small of my back and said, “I’m surprised to see you out of the hospital so soon. You look so much better than the last time I visited you.”
He’d visited me, too? Interesting. Who knew I was so popular?
“Well, I heal pretty fast,” I lied, not bothering to tell him about the part where I had taken a triple shot of that vampire blood I was addicted too. Obviously, that wasn’t something I was going to share with the Senior Magister. “So, what’s going on with the book?”
He pulled in a frustrated breath. “Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to translate the Sang Noir as of yet. It doesn’t appear to be written in any language known to us or the elders.”
“Why would the Angels leave us a book that no one can read?” I asked, utterly confused and deflated. The whole thing felt like some big mind-fuck delivered straight from the Angels.
He shook his head despondently. “I wish I knew the answer to that.”
“So, what’s the plan now?” I asked, decided not to dwell on what couldn’t be changed. The milk had spilled, there was no use in crying over the damn thing.
“We have some of our best people working around the clock to try and decode the text.” He paused as though gauging how much more he should tell me. “And of course, we’ve already begun preparing some of our top Rigs as well. Unfortunately, without any concrete information about the Horsemen, our men are at a great disadvantage.”
Incarnate: A Dark Paranormal Romance (The Marked Saga Book 5) Page 26