Kian stands. “Stop.” The word is simple, firm but without a hint of aggression.
I can’t stop.
My feet move without my consent, fingers clawing, fangs showing, an animal growl that doesn’t sound like any animal I’ve ever heard before.
Kian ducks and catches my wrists. He sweeps my feet out from under me at the same time, grounding me. Thin ice cracks under the force and my weight. But I’m back on my feet in an instant, lunging for him again.
This time he waits with his hands at his sides. He waits until I’m close, then he steps to the side at the last minute. He catches my neck—or he would have if I hadn’t put my arms up in time to create a buffer. He has me in a bind. All I can move are my feet, but it’s unstable. I’m bent over the ground, almost floating above it. I try to bite anyway, anywhere my teeth will reach, but I can’t reach anywhere.
“Quiet down,” he hisses. “They’ll hear us. Haven’t you been drinking the blood Madeline gave you? You act like you’re starving.”
Because I am starving. That piss doesn’t pass for blood. I need Kian’s blood. Only Kian’s will do. My growls grow louder, and Kian lets me go. I almost fall, but I catch myself. I whirl on him and don’t pause. I don’t think about his new stance, easy, palms tilted toward me. Welcoming me.
I grab the back of his neck. Then I pull him down so I can reach his neck.
“Just do it,” he says. “Do it and let’s get out of here.”
His words don’t register. They don’t make sense, because suddenly I’ve pierced his skin, and his pulse is my pulse, and his blood is my blood. Sweet, spicy, minty. It’s everything his scent promised. Red covers chartreuse like a new layer of clothing. Green and pink touch, and I know they should repel, but they don’t. The green slips away, chartreuse transformed into anemic yellow around the edges.
Kian gasps, and I know it has to be a reaction to the pain. I’m vaguely aware of it, that I’m hurting him. I should stop, but I can’t stop. My teeth have found purchase. Someone will have to break my jaw and wrench it loose before I let go. This is nothing like that piss Madeline kept making me drink. It’s warm instead of cold. It’s alive with his heartbeat instead of dead like a flat soda. It sparks on my tongue like electricity. And it’s better than anything I’ve ever tasted in my life. I wasn’t living until this moment.
I want more of the chartreuse. I press my fingers harder into his neck like I’m squeezing a lime. The pink in my fingers turns brown.
Nova, Stop. Please stop. You don’t want to do this. You’re killing him.
His pulse, strong and unwavering, flutters like a butterfly trying to take to the sky in the cold.
I let go.
“Hell,” Kian mumbles. “You really went for it.” His weight presses into me. He can’t hold himself up anymore, and I catch him because he’ll crush me otherwise. Wait. He’s actually pretty light. Blood oozes from his neck, as sweet as ever, and he presses his hand to the wound.
So much blood.
I did that. I did that to him.
“Fuck.” I tilt my head and spit. Spit because I can’t stand that glorious taste in my mouth anymore. I can’t stand the fact that my stomach doesn’t hurt anymore, like Kian’s the magic cure I’ve needed all along. I should apologize, but it wouldn’t be enough. This isn’t something you can just apologize for. My tongue turns into a thick cotton swab, and I stand there. Just stand there.
I need to wipe his blood from my mouth, but I’m worried. If I move, Kian will fall.
What have I done?
“Nova.” Kian’s voice is weak. “We need to get back to the others. Hunters are big trouble, and those two are part of the EEA. They’re nothing to mess with.”
I can’t remember what the EEA is.
Footfalls crunch on ice. A beam from a flashlight catches my attention out of the corner of my eye.
“I think it’s too late,” I whisper. “I think they’re here.”
I turn my head to see more, just as the lights land on us. Sandstone and Lava Rock don’t look right. Their Colors are bleeding out from their silhouettes. Bright blotches of Colors in the distance are behaving the same way. They must be people, but I’ve never been able to see that far before. Little dots everywhere, like busy streets at night in the rain.
My heart rate picks up. Lava Rock and Sandstone slowly draw guns. Slowly. I think they must be toying with us at first, but then I notice everything is slow. Kian’s breaths take an eternity to cycle through an inhale to an exhale to an inhale again. Then it all speeds up. Like someone suddenly hit fast-forward.
FLASH.
BANG.
POP.
Guns fire, and I drop to the ground with Kian in my arms.
CHAPTER 15
“We’ve got ourselves a vampire.”
“Are they cannibals? I thought you said the guy’s a monster, too.”
“They can be, and he is. Keep firing to keep them grounded. I’ll move in.”
Another gunshot goes off. This bullet hits my neck. I’m sure that means I’m going to die, but it’s just like a bee sting. Then it gets worse as it burrows inside my flesh. It’s still not as bad as I expect a gun wound to be, though.
I take it back.
My eyes start to water as the point of impact throbs. I mean, throbs. I can’t think about anything but the pain, like my neck is slowly being severed.
When another shot fires, Kian twists us around so he’s covering me. The bullet hits his left shoulder. He doesn’t flinch, doesn’t react, because it just bounces off him. He hauls me to my feet just as Sandstone comes down with his wood stake. Kian kicks his shin, breaking through a hard armor like it’s fragile glass. It’s not enough, though. He doesn’t break the hunter’s bone, but Sandstone does fall to his knees.
“Shoot them!” Sandstone yells.
“People are coming out of their houses,” Lava Rock says, hesitating. “They’re going to call the cops on us. I should switch bullets. These wood ones aren’t strong enough. There’s too little skin showing.”
Kian’s hot breath caresses my ear. “Go.”
Our arms and hands tangle up as we run, apparently neither of us willing to leave the other behind. But Kian’s too slow; he’s lost too much blood.
Another bullet whizzes by, and Kian drops his weight on me.
“Did it hit you?” I ask, nearly hysterical. I can’t see where I’m going. Everything is too bright, like it’s all been turned up a hundred volts. My skull is about to crack open, or my eyeballs are going to roll out of my head.
“Bounced off my neck,” Kian says. “Keep going.”
My own neck roars a protest. Why did the bullet “bounce” off his neck and drill into mine? Once my adrenaline wears off, I don’t even want to know what this pain is going to feel like. I bite the insides of my cheeks to keep myself from screaming. Holding my neck up is as hard as carrying a bowling ball on my head.
“Not so fast.”
The wood stake comes down. I barely have time to glance over my shoulder to see Sandstone’s aiming for my back. He’s going to hit me, but then Kian’s tired body drops, and I go with him. The hunter trips over us, heavy with armor underneath his coat. His stake digs at my chest. It’s about to tear through my coat and into my flesh, so I squeeze my eyes shut. I brace myself for more pain.
Then his weight is gone. He didn’t move. He didn’t stand. It’s like he’s been erased from a picture.
When I open my eyes, dark blue that is as bright as blinding white assaults my eyes. I’ve never seen a Color like it. It’s undulating but smooth, like ocean waves underneath a clear-glass surface. He’s only wearing pants, so that’s part of why his Color is so intense. No, it’s more than that. My eyes water more the longer I stare at his Color, like I’m looking directly into the sun.
Sandstone is lost in his Color, bound by it.
“Preying on children, are we?” the blazing-blue man says. “Pitiful.”
Sandstone chokes and struggles. B
lazing Blue is holding him by the throat, squeezing tighter by the second. Blazing Blue is a giant. Seven feet? Eight feet? Sandstone starts to fade, a light going out. Before he can disappear completely, Blazing Blue drops him. Sandstone wheezes, grasping at wet and icy bits of grass and dirt.
BANG.
I flinch, expecting another bullet to hit me, but it’s not coming for me. It’s headed straight for Blazing Blue. He doesn’t try to move. He only holds up his arm.
Blip.
The bullet ricochets off his Color and tumbles onto the frozen ground. Lava Rock curses, muttering about how useless these bullets are, and messes with his gun as a purple haze gathers behind him. I don’t trust my eyes, but it grows. Larger and larger until it converges into a woman’s silhouette.
“That’s quite enough of that,” Hazy Purple says. She effortlessly knocks the gun out of Lava Rock’s hand and holds him by the back of his neck like she’s got a dog by the scruff.
Hazy Purple holds her free hand out to Blazing Blue. “Ginzo, if you would.”
“Gladly.”
Blazing Blue picks up Sandstone like he’s a blanket. He flops like one too, totally passed out.
“Who are these people?” Kian whispers.
I have no idea, but I’m going to rip off my coat if my neck doesn’t stop screaming soon.
“Wake up,” Blazing Blue says. He slaps Sandstone’s face a couple times, who gasps and squeaks, “What?”
“Stand up.” Blazing Blue sets him down, and the hunter stands. Blazing Blue grabs his chin, tilts it up. “You’re going to forget all about this, all right? You didn’t find your mark. False alarm. There are no monsters in Barrow, Alaska.”
“There are no monsters in Barrow, Alaska.” Sandstone’s Color… It takes on a gray undertone.
“Yeah, yeah. Good. You don’t need to repeat it.”
And now the giant is using Jedi mind tricks.
Blazing Blue lets Sandstone go and walks up to Lava Rock. Hazy Purple lets him go, and Blazing Blue grabs his chin.
“Please.” Lava Rock’s voice quavers.
“There are no monsters in Barrow, Alaska. False alarm.” Blazing Blue’s voice has gone flat, more monotone than it was before, like he’s bored to death of this.
“Hurry it up, Ginzo dear.” Hazy Purple folds her arms and impatiently taps her fingers against her coat. “These hunters caused quite a stir, firing guns with abandon.”
“He’s done,” Blazing Blue says, and he’s right. Lava Rock’s Color takes on that same gray undertone as Sandstone.
“That’s my favorite demon.” Hazy Purple pats the giant affectionately. Then she comes for me and Kian. We’re both sitting up, contemplating fight or flight. Probably. I’m mostly thinking about how the entire backside of my body is ripping itself apart like my neck. Is the bullet sinking down into my spine?
“Ah, golden-ash bullets.” Hazy Purple kneels in front of me and grabs the back of my neck. I try to protest, to move away, but it hurts, and I whimper instead. My eyes are watering with the pain. Then Hazy Purple plunges her fingers into my flesh. Right into the bullet wound.
I scream. But no sound escapes my lips. Blazing Blue’s hand has sealed my mouth. When did he move? I didn’t see him move.
“There we go.” Hazy purple tosses aside a blood-soaked bullet with a flick of her fingers.
Like magic, my neck doesn’t hurt anymore, not unless I want to count the very dull, basically negligible, sting left behind. In fact, I think the wound is closing up. Slowly.
Right, vampire healing. And I’m a second-generation.
“Kian took a bullet, too,” I say.
“It bounced,” Kian reminds.
“He’s fine. He’s not a vampire. It wouldn’t go through. Wood bullets aren’t all that powerful as a whole. Let’s get you back to little Maddie, shall we?”
“Madeline,” Kian says. “You’re Helena, aren’t you?”
“I am indeed. I’m glad to hear my name is familiar even among the students.”
“You made Nightshade possible. Madeline wouldn’t let that kindness be forgotten.”
“Yes, she’s very high-strung and old that way. Come along now, kiddies. More humans are coming, and we don’t want to get tangled up with the law enforcement, do we? No, we don’t. It gets messy, messy, messy.”
Blazing Blue picks me up, right under my rib cage, and then he does the same to Kian. All of a sudden, a blast of icy wind hits my face, attacks my lips and cheeks as we move at a speed I can’t see. I have to close my eyes or risk them freezing over or drying out into nasty husks. My stomach jumps into my throat when he stops, like, two seconds after he got going.
“There you are!” I recognize the voice as Madeline’s, but my vision hasn’t stopped spinning. Not to mention, everything still looks like the bleeding city lights at night in the rain.
Blazing Blue lets me and Kian go. Kian holds his neck, rubbing out the blood left by my bite. I hang my head, as much to avoid “eye contact” as to try and get this trippy vision under control.
Oskar and Emery come running, rose red and sunny orange bleeding through at the edges. Emery wraps her arms around me. I wince, but she doesn’t seem to notice. I don’t fight it, but I don’t hug her back either.
“Kian, what the hell?” Oskar grabs the back of Kian’s head and presses their foreheads together. It’s a strangely intimate thing to do. At least, it seems that way to me.
Kian replies, “Long story.” He presses his palm to his neck, hiding the blood behind his glove and his coat collar.
“Helena,” the Crow says. His Color does a weird flicker, from turquoise to navy blue.
Hazy Purple flutters her fingers. “Harpy.”
“Where were they?” Madeline asks. “What happened?”
“You’ll want to take everyone back to Nightshade. Unless you want to chance another EEA run-in.” Helena sounds much too happy about that. Her last word ends with a giggle.
“Hunters in Barrow?”
“Yes, seems they got a call about a wendigo on the loose. Naughty, naughty.”
“EEA hunters!” Madeline’s hands go to her perfect blond curls, tearing them away from her Color.
“No reason to fret, Maddie. Ginzo and I will take care of this.”
Blazing Blue huffs. “We will?”
“Yes, pet. Yes, we will.”
“In the bus, everyone,” the Crow says as he starts gathering the students.
Oskar gasps. “She bit you!” He forcefully removes Kian’s hand from his neck.
My mouth opens with the need to apologize, but the words don’t come out. I can’t say them. It feels cheap. So, I look at my hands. The lotus pink I know so well is dingy with bits of brown swirling inside of it.
“Who is the pink-haired one?” Helena asks.
“Nova,” Madeline catches my and Emery’s wrists and drags us to the bus, “the one we picked up in Maryland.”
“Ah.” Helena’s purple haze dances like smoke in the wind. “Lovely.” Her voice is sultry slick, fine as silk. “Then I’m sure we’ll meet again soon, darlings.”
Madeline pushes Emery and me inside of the bus—which would have maybe been funny because of her size if she wasn’t so damn strong. “You’re in trouble this time, Nova. Real trouble.”
She doesn’t have to tell me that. Oskar’s Color is like exploding blood, and he’s turned toward me, definitely looking at me. Kian’s green is the only Color in my too-bright vision that looks almost normal, and the memory of his skin is hot in my brain. And the taste of his blood is still on my tongue.
My stomach may be full and content—for the first time since I’ve started drinking blood—but I know it won’t last forever. My body wants only Kian’s blood.
What if I kill him next time?
CHAPTER 16
I sit in a plush high-back black chair in front of Madeline’s too-big desk. A pixie runs across the black surface, like its skimming a quiet lake. It kicks a lonely pen off the side, but Ma
deline ignores it, and it flutters away a moment later.
Madeline looks out of place on the other side, a kid with her pillows stacked on the seat of her own plush high-back chair so she can fit at the desk. The heavy purple curtains are closed because the sun is out again, and fires dancing on candelabras are the only source of light. She has lightbulbs. She’s just choosing not to use them.
She pushes the black blood bottle across the worn surface of the desk, as far as her arm will go. It feels like some scene in a Hollywood horror film, like we’re in the middle of some demonic ritual. The insulated bottle just needs a pentagram drawn in blood underneath it.
Blood.
“Drink this,” Madeline orders.
I keep my hands planted in my lap, fingering the edge of my plaid skirt.
Madeline continues, “You must. Get warm, fresh blood out of your head and your system. This is the only kind of blood you’re allowed to drink. You’ll never get out of Nightshade if you don’t master your bloodlust, and you’re not going to do it by sucking the blood out of humans, changed and unchanged alike.”
I know that, but my stomach isn’t cramping for once. I’m not even hungry. Can’t I make it last a little longer? Please.
I close my eyes, open them again, and grab the bottle. I unscrew the cap, take a swig, fighting the repulsive taste on my tongue as I swallow. I feel it when it hits my stomach. It’s a splash, disturbing a pool that was perfectly happy with no one swimming around in it. Then it starts to boil, more and more, the stove turned up way too high.
Twisting in my seat, I grab Madeline’s trash can and spill my guts. Blood dripping down my lips, that acidic taste of vomit, piss. The aftertaste makes me dry-heave.
“Really, Nova.” Madeline’s voice hardens. Vermilion sands tumble faster through their hourglass container, spilling outside of it. “I didn’t peg you as the dramatic sort.”
Because I’m not. I’m a wallflower.
Madeline sighs. “You’ll have to control it. It’s hard now. You’re still new to this, being a vampire, but you have to control it. You’re not allowed to drink Kian dry. Some vampires will fixate on certain prey and toy with that victim until they eventually kill them. We will not entertain that aspect of your nature. It isn’t necessary for survival. It’s a step toward being something… less than human.
Nightshade Academy Episode 1: Awakened Vampire Page 9