Thirst (Ava Delaney #1)

by Claire Farrell

  Chapter Fifteen

  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 as though I were 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 Daimh?n, 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 Daimh?n 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.

  "Daimh?n 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, so 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 Daimh?n. 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 Daimh?n 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, and 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 Daimh?n, 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," Daimh?n 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 wante
d to flinch. I did my best to keep still. Daimh?n 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, then 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."

  Daimh?n inclined her head slightly. "I hear you have the dagger."

  The air tightened. "What dagger?" I bluffed.

  "Now, now, I can't take it from you. I'm surprised you can touch it. It burns the poison from our bodies, purges us of the very thing which animates us. I suppose it works differently for you."

  The cold presence was back, carefully breathing on my arm as if to keep me calm. After everything, I was happy to have it around.

  She sniffed the air. "Is there something here?"

  The cool air grew icy on my arm. "What?" I said, knowing full well what she meant this time.

  She glanced around the room, more curious than concerned. "No matter," she said, at last. "As for your family and friends, they'll be safe from me, but are they safe from you? And if you don't feed, how can you protect them?"

  "I don't have to feed," I hissed.

  "You're not feeding yourself with the blood," she said. "It's the poison in your blood stream that craves it. The poison can't strengthen you if you don't feed it."

  "But I don't kill people. I don't eat them either!" I had to make sure she knew I wasn't like her.

  She surprised me by laughing girlishly. She leaned forward conspiratorially.

  "Tell me. Do vampires count as people?"

  I stared back at her, unsure of what my answer was to that.

  She relaxed back into her chair, suddenly looking more like a school teacher than a ruler of vampires.

  "Let me tell you about your first job."