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Blood's Voice

Page 35

by Aine Massie


  I again checked the doors, quickly but carefully. I feared seeing what condition Nicholas would be in. What might they have done to him? It had only been a couple of days but still.

  After checking numerous doors in the ever growing hall – it turned more than just the one time I had originally seen – I heard Nicolas’ voice. He was begging someone to stop. To make it stop. What were they doing to him in there!

  I burst in through the door, fangs bared, wanting to cause pain to whomever I found with him. What I came in to find was as disconcerting as it was unexpected. He was lying on a small bed, restrained. There were manacles on his wrists and ankles along with a strange harness across his chest. He was thrashing against the restraints, but it was obvious that they had done nothing to treat him. This was not the part that was so sickening though. His eyes were trapped open and above him was a monitor that was running what I immediately could tell was video footage of some of their sessions with me, audio included – though playing quietly. The torture he was trying to escape was not of his own pain, but mine!

  Standing at the foot of the bed was a human, male, middle aged what was smiling oddly at Nicholas. He didn’t even seem to notice my entrance. But a human? Why? I could smell the human; he reeked of sweat and coffee.

  I moved, blurred really, in my efforts to release Nicholas from the restrains as quickly as possible. The strange human didn’t move to try to stop me or even seem to care that I was there. He just continued to watch and scratch something on his clipboard.

  “Nicholas, come on. Can you run?”

  Nicholas looked even weaker than he had the day Amber had taken him out to hunt. His eyes were wild as they focused on my face. “I–I, are you really here?” he stammered. Great! He’s so out of it that he’s not even sure I’m real.

  “Focus!” I commanded. “I am here, and we have to leave, now.” I used my voice, not my usual thing to do to him but he was too out of it and muddled to help himself otherwise.

  Nicholas nodded as I pulled him along behind me, moving toward the door. The real issue, other than his inane mumblings about what he had witnessed on the monitor, was when we got up to the main floor.

  There was a small gathering inside the entrance, waiting for me, it seemed. Focus on the solution. There were six of them, all huge and grinning eagerly. Nicholas was in no condition to fight. I wasn’t sure he could even help defend himself at that point. There was one that seemed calmer than the others, but he also filled my mind with a strange sense of dread, similar to the way Ashley had pulled at my mind.

  “Ah, the Abomination returned herself to rescue this one. How sweet. You know we cannot allow you to leave.” His eyes gave away his curiosity about it being me.

  Everything around these men dissolved in my vision. Anger, like nothing I had ever felt before, burned through me, turning my vision red and back. Beyond reason, beyond need, I was death.

  Chapter Twenty–Four

  “Jonathan, we need your help. Anya is catatonic, and I’m too weak to get us the rest of the way home. Please, come get us. I don’t know what to do.” Nicholas was whispering into the phone. I could hear him, but it was just some ethereal dream around me, it didn’t seem real.

  In my mind, I kept replaying how we had escaped, the blood, the carnage, the euphoric dance of death that had cost the Elder House not just the six that had fist blocked our exit but the twenty or so others that came to their aid. Not one still existed, not in this world. Part of them burnt under the thrall of my voice, but nearly half I tore apart and in one case I devoured every drop of blood before torching him and the torture house before we fled.

  “Anya,” Nicholas tried again. He was determined to break into my revelry. I didn’t want to come out and have to deal with the monster he would see me as. I had to rescue him, but now I would be just another monster after what I did to all those who stood in my way. I wasn’t sorry they were destroyed, just for the fact Nicholas had seen it all.

  I knew I was terrifying Nicholas, but I couldn’t seem to break out of this trance state I was in. His fear had a dreamlike quality; all I could seem to focus on was the destruction . . .

  “We got this far before it became too light for me to continue travelling so she hid us here but after making sure I was stable she slipped into this weird trance–like state and hasn’t moved or spoken since. I’m too weak to focus and hear her surface thoughts though so I don’t know what’s going through her head.” Nicholas was explaining to someone what had happened, but I couldn’t focus on who it was. Jonathan maybe.

  “We’ll get you both home, don’t worry. She’ll be fine,” murmured a voice in response. I should probably focus, but he’s safe. I would know if he was in danger.

  “Anya,” the voice tried. “Come on child, you need to focus back on the now.” This voice was strong and determined. Child? Why was I being called child again?

  “Louie, she’s not responding though I can tell she does hear you,” came another voice. “We need to find a way to jar her out of this trance. But, without getting ourselves killed in the process.

  “Bring in Declán, maybe he can jar her senses enough,” murmured another voice, Jonathan I thought.

  Mmm, that scent. Luscious, erotic, dangerous.

  “Can she hear me?” Declán asked. “What’s wrong with her?”

  “We don’t know, yet. Just try to wake her, please,” Louie begged. Why was he so worried?

  “Okay.”

  Ever so gently I began to feel – a new thing for me, numbness was my friend – strong, rough hands caressing my face. “Anya, please. We need you. I need you.” I was trying to wake, how could I not give some response to Declán? He didn’t know what I’d done, not yet. I needed to focus before it was too late. But, my body wouldn’t respond.

  The hands left, and I could hear scratching on paper. Someone was taking the time to write something, weird.

  After a few minutes things changed, violently. I heard growling and then suddenly I could smell Declán’s blood! How dare they? My mind finally snapped back into my body and I found myself wrapped around Declán’s form, with a feral snarl breaking through my silent chest.

  As the world came back into focus, I found myself more confused than I could remember being since I first woke at Star’s. Jonathan, Nicholas, Louie, and Simon were all on the other side of the small space, all with their hands open and in clear view. Not a one had fangs bared nor had they even been near Declán.

  “Anya, dear? Calm down, please. No one hurt me, I drew my own blood . . . to try to wake you,” Declán was rushing, stumbling through his words. Looking down, I saw that he had a small blade in his hand that was laced with his blood.

  “But I heard, I smelled, why would you do that?” Drawing his own blood? Is he insane?

  “Oh, thank you,” he crowed. “Thank you, thank you. Are you okay now?” He threw his arms around me, always the reckless one.

  “I–I don’t know. I could hear you, I just couldn’t seem to respond. I’m sorry.” Releasing Declán, I held my arms to my sides. He shouldn’t be touched by a monster; he’s too pure, too loving.

  “Anya?” came Jonathan’s voice again. “Are you injured? You’re covered in blood and ash.” He was still across the way, holding onto Nicholas for dear life. I wasn’t sure if it was in response to having him back or to how I looked, but I was glad to see him there to take care of Nicholas. I certainly wasn’t fit to do so.

  “None of this is mine or Nicholas’s. I don’t think those left will ever try to harm him again. You should be safe now.

  “Nicholas needs help though. They did nothing to undo the poisoning and his mind may be damaged,” I explained woodenly. “He was unsure if I was even real when I found him. They were subjecting him to a video of what they had done to me.”

  “Child, you need to know that none of us believes you a monster. I can hear that’s what you fear, but we don’t,” Louie began as he slowly approached me. “Not even Declán is going to se
e you that way.” He continued over until his hand was on my shoulder.

  “Anya, he’s right. I’m worried about you but not scared of you,” Declán murmured, refusing to release me even as I stood stoically.

  “I’m sorry. I’m not upset with any of you.” Turning to Jonathan specifically, “We need to get Nicholas home, safely. We can discuss things once we’re back.”

  All of them looked back and forth between each other before Jonathan agreed. Interesting, they had brought my car, seems it has the darkest tint, to provide Nicholas safe passage home.

  Once home, Louie came over, pulling me towards the stairs. “Anya, can we go talk? It’s important.”

  I wasn’t sure what he wanted, but Nicholas and Declán would be safer without me there, so why not. “Sure. Where?” I was not sure why this made me nervous, but oh well.

  “Let’s go to the basement. It’s quiet and obviously not in use at the moment.”

  I caught him staring at me strangely, again, as we moved to the basement. He had a strange glint in his eyes and peculiar, twitchy movements.

  “Okay, you have me away from everyone, in an area that has plenty of weapons to use against me if you felt the need. Do you mind telling me why we’re down here? I’m really not the safest company.” He had no idea how true that statement really was. Sadly, I did.

  “Anya, you need to stop that right now! You are not a monster. I heard your thoughts earlier, but you are not some vile monster. You are not as bad as those you just destroyed, no matter how you see it. Unfortunately, I can only hear surface thoughts, which right now are so disjointed as to be painfully confusing, but I know you. You are no monster.”

  “You may have known me once upon a time, but you do not know me Louie. Not anymore.”

  “Then help me to understand. You destroyed those that had taken Nicholas and that had hurt you both. They brought this on themselves. You did what you had to.” He was so emphatic it was slightly scary, like listening to Nicholas.

  “You don’t understand Louie. I am eternally grateful that you saved me so that I could get Nicholas back, but after seeing what has become of me, I wonder that any of you would want me back. I know what I am! I may have saved Nicholas, but there was no one to save me from what I’ve become.” I could not bear to look at him, not one that had risked so much to help me. Sought to help protect those I love and help us, even knowing I was against those like him.

  I had now seen the evil weapon they sought to create and control. I knew much more vividly what I was capable of. He still saw the peace loving child; that person no longer existed. I hadn’t blanked out but rather remembered every moment of their destruction at my hands.

  “Nicholas saw what I did; he knows what I’ve become. He also saw what they did to me before. He will never be able to look at me and not see either of those evils.”

  “So you’re going to run away from all those that love and respect you because you what, acted like what you are? You’re a vampire, Anya,” Louie snapped. “You are upset because for the first time in your existence you actually embraced the killer within and used your power? You kept your morals. You protected those you love and destroyed those that murder and torture.

  “How is what you did different from what Declán is to do? He is being trained to destroy our species, so he can defend and protect the innocent. The fact he considers those like you to be under his protection is not the point. You are training him to kill the very monsters you just destroyed.

  “When he finally becomes what he was born to be, will you look at him with revulsion and fear as you expect him and the others to look at you now? Think carefully about that before you continue down this path.”

  “I enjoyed it Louie. I didn’t want to stop. I smiled as they writhed, I was ecstatic when they burst into flame, and I can’t even describe what it felt like to tear them apart with my bloody hands. If it hadn’t been for the fact I needed to get Nicholas out of there, being he couldn’t do much for himself, I would have gone after the main House. As it is, I destroyed nearly thirty of them and torched an area that had at least one human and may have had others within.”

  Louie was staring at me with wide eyed wonder and awe again, ugh. “You destroyed nearly thirty of them? Seriously? All on your own?”

  “Of course on my own. Nicholas was in no state to help. You nearly joined them tonight, you know? That stunt with having Declán cut his hand after you snarled like that; I was ready to add you all to the heap right then.”

  “Oui, but it was all we could think of to try. You weren’t responding to any of us, we had to do something. But, that is not the point right now. You need to let your lovers decide what they will about what happened, not decide for them how they should see you.

  “Maybe you should try looking at this as an opportunity. You have all this power, join your Guardian and your beloved one and be a force for good. That would be the ultimate revenge for them turning you into a weapon. Use this power to help the humans you so dearly love.”

  “That has to be the most ironic thought I have ever heard,” Declán said as he came slowly down the stairs, trailing his hand lightly the railing. “Especially from one that would normally be who I should be hunting. But Anya, he’s right, you don’t have the right to tell either of us how we are to feel about what you did to save Nicholas from the same monsters that tortured you.”

  “You don’t understand, a ghrá. This is a lot more complicated that just rescuing him or fighting beside you.”

  “Actually, I understand more than you might think,” Declán countered. “Thomas stayed after you left. Oh, we’ll have words later over using my parents to make me stay behind, by the way. But, I convinced Thomas to spill what he knew about what was done to you during those thirty years they had you. After what he told me, I’m even more amazed by the person you are.

  “I can’t even imagine going through part of that and still being like you are. You are an amazing, loving, protective, gentle soul even with what they did. Louie, back me up on this.”

  “He’s right, child. We convinced Thomas to talk – well, mostly it was Dec, but still – so we all understand a lot more than you may even of what happened. And, we are all still here with and for you.”

  “I–I appreciate that, both of you, but–”

  “But nothing. You don’t get to make up my mind for me, and I agree with Louie; if you have found that you enjoy fighting those monsters then you should stand with me and do what you are training me to do. They wanted you to be a weapon, fine use what they have given you to bring safety to those that can’t fight. I know that not all vampires are evil, you just have to learn to see that too.” Declán was standing in front of me now, looking at me with unreadable eyes. He gingerly reached out and taking my hand with his pulled me to him.

  “You are not just my girlfriend or Louie’s friend, nor are you just the head of some House; you are the soul of our little family – you, Nicholas, and me – and the power behind a House that could change things for the better for humans and other vampires like you. Louie says that most like you are destroyed, those that refuse to kill humans that is. You can't run from us; we are your family, and you are ours.”

  “When did you become so grown up?” I asked gently.

  “So, does that mean you’ll stop this nonsense and come back upstairs?” Declán was smirking again, ugh.

  “I’m still not sure which one of you is more aggravating and wilful,” I laughed. “Fine, but I still owe you a thump for the blood stunt,” I added swatting his shoulder.

  “Louie? Will you forgive my tantrum? I hope you know how much it means to me, all that you have done for us. I could never have saved Nicholas without you. I owe you my life,” I said extending my hand towards him.

  Louie looked at my hand for a moment before taking it. The smile playing across his face was curious as was the look he gave me. “Anya. Does this mean you can accept me as I am as your friend? Fully?”

  Releasing Dec
lán for a moment, I gently took Louie’s chin in my hand and leaned in slightly. “Louie, there is nothing to accept. You are more true a friend than I could have ever asked. I may not like your diet, but I will accept it as it is part of who you are, and who you are is a wonder. Simon said you rescued me ages ago from Gabriel, and again you have rescued me, though this time it was from me. Can you forgive me?”

  Laughing gaily, he wrenched me into a hug. Still holding me in that hug he finally stopped laughing to speak, “There is nothing to forgive, though Simon wasn’t exactly accurate. I did not rescue you, I stole you from Gabriel.”

  “Stole me?” I asked, pulling back to see his face better. Declán was staring blankly at him as well.

  “Oui.” Louie shifted back while looking away. “To Gabriel you were a failed apprentice since you refused to kill humans. I met you and was immediately fascinated with you and um . . . well . . . uh.”

  Declán started laughing, curious. “Are you trying to tell her that you are another of her exes?”

  “Well, yes. She never loved me as she does you or Nicholas, but yes, she was my friend and lover for a time. But,” he continued looking back to me again. “You could never accept me unconditionally as we fought over feeding issues among, other things, and in the end, your love of humans caused you to leave.

  “I never held it against you. How could I? Nor am I trying to win you back or any such concept, I just want my friend back. You think these vile things that have happened to you have changed who you are, yet I know more so than anyone that you are not truly changed. You are still the gentle human loving girl that enchants most everyone she meets.

  “Oh, one thing. Simon knows, and now your Declán here knows, but I never told Nicholas. I had known Jonathan, but I had not seen you in ages when you went missing, and Nic was such a mess that I didn’t tell him.”

  “Uh, can I ask something then Louie?” Declán asked.

 

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