Blood Purple

by Ashley Nemer

  Alec moved to her side and offered a hand. “Just for support. No help, I promise.”

  Nikole took his left hand in her left hand as she felt his body come behind her and his right hand brace her right elbow. She looked over her shoulder back to him and began to talk but he interrupted her. “I just don’t want you to fall. You can do all the work; just think of me as a brace.” Smiling at him, she nodded a bit before looking back to the door. She moved her right foot and slowly started to take her first steps out of the room. Alec barely held onto her as she crossed the fifteen feet from the bed to the door. As they walked out of the bedroom, she looked at his living room and kitchen. She was blown away by the design.

  “Did you build this place? It’s amazing.” She loved how the loveseat sat facing a huge picture window, displaying a view of the lake. The woodwork and carpet coordinated, reflecting the rays of sun fill the home with warmth and light. The natural coloring, the light shades of tan and brown, mixed over the cream walls. The two of them made their way to the sofa. Alec helped her sit down on it. Her hands ran over the light brown leather. She had a hard time absorbing the sight of everything. “Alec this place…it’s fascinating.” He sat down beside her, watching her take in the different things around the room.

  “I built this place in 1975 shortly after I bought this land from your akh. I’ve slowly upgraded it with the decades as more modern items became available, but it’s my sanctuary. It’s off in the distance, not easily found by people. It is…” he paused and exhaled slowly, thinking he needed to choose his words carefully. “It is the only thing I have left in this world that is worth caring about. I lost everything when we all migrated to the States, so this is where I hideout and keep to myself.”

  She knew how he felt; she had lost everything too. Moving her hand over to his and grasping it, she gave him a look and softly said, “I am sorry my amm took everything from you. You have been so generous in helping me. Can I repay you somehow?”

  He shook his head looking at her; he didn’t understand why he cared so much. “No, but thank you.” He ran his finger over to her cheek and brushed her soft skin. Moments passed. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. Did he take her home or keep her? There was just something about her that made him boil inside and want to burst with joy. He didn’t understand what it was. He didn’t even know her.

  “Why don’t I call your akh and arrange for him to meet me somewhere to take you back?” He didn’t want to give her back, but he couldn’t keep her. He couldn’t have anyone else again. Not after last time. “Give me his number and I’ll call.”

  She hesitated for a moment. “Can’t I stay one more day?”

  “No. I don’t have people over. I told you, this is all I have since the war. I’m sorry; I’m just not used to being around people.”

  She nodded, understanding what he meant. The war of 1777 had destroyed so many families. Maybe he’d lost a lover or a child? She felt a bit ill thinking of him having a lover. She looked up at him again and smiled as best as she could. “Of course, that is very rude of me. I am sure you want your home back. Thank you for taking care of me and helping me. I can never repay you.”

  He could tell he’d upset her, but he didn’t know what else to do. He wasn’t used to this, used to people. He realized he hadn’t checked her wounds yet. He took her hand in his and brought her arm to his lap. Removing the bandages, he saw everything had healed and minimal scaring from the knife wounds showed. He felt some relief, knowing she would be okay. He wished he could do more for her.

  Nikole, unable to predict what this man was going to do, pointed to his cell phone on the table. “Can I please use the phone? I’ll call Zayn myself.” Alec handed her the phone and watched as she began dialing. How he wished he could trust himself enough to let her stay the one more day she asked for. How he wished things had been different for him. Why did he have to be cursed with this inner demon, the ones that haunted him from that night in Zahle with Haydar? He sat back and listened to her talk to her akh.

  “Zayn! Zayn, oh Gods!” Nikole cried into the phone.

  “Nikole! Are you ok? Where are you?”

  “Yes, yes I am fine. Do you remember the guy you sold the training center to, Alec? I’m at his place; he found me and gave me his blood.”

  “Damn it Nikole, you don’t know if you can trust him. I’m getting you out of there, we don’t really know him.”

  “Zayn, calm down. I am safe and I trust him.”

  “The men are ready to fight and get you to safety. We will be there in no time. Nikole; I won’t lose you again, we are ready to kill!”

  “No, I don’t need you to bring guns. Just come pick me up. Do you know where he lives?”

  “I thought he wasn’t even in the States anymore. Last Nasir and I heard he went back to the homeland. Are you sure you are safe with him”

  “What do you mean you thought he left the country? Zayn you are talking too fast calm down. Just come and get me.”

  “Okay, we will be there in a two hours. I love you, and I’m so glad you're safe. Be careful, Nikole...”

  “I will Zayn, see you in two hours. Oh and love you too!” She ended the call with her akh and looked up at Alec. “Well, Zayn will be here in two hours.”

  Alec got up and walked to the window, opening the blinds. “I just got home a month ago and haven’t checked in with anyone yet. Come on, let’s clean you up and get you dressed. I don’t want your akh to think I did anything disrespectful to you.”

  She stood from the couch, wobbling a bit, and started to walk slowly to the bedroom. She felt Alec come up behind her, supporting her weight. She was grateful he had taken her in, but she didn’t want to leave, and she didn’t know why.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  He hung up the phone in a slow daze. Nikole was alive. He had to go pick her up. He turned to Adara, blinking back tears he felt forming. “She is alive. She is alive!”

  Adara wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close. He leaned into her embrace, his forehead lying against her neck, smelling her hair, her scent, and letting it comfort him. Adara stroked his head, letting her fingers run through his hair. “Do you want me to go with you to get her?”

  Zayn shook his head no, lifting up his eyes and catching hers in his gaze. Blinking twice, he leaned into her and kissed her softly. “No, this is something I have to do on my own, but thank you. You will be here when I bring her home right?”

  Adara brushed a strand of hair from his eyes. “I’ll be here as long as you want me to be, Zayn.”

  He took her hand and kissed her palm. The soft skin tantalized him. “It will take me two hours each way, so I will see you in four hours.” He kissed her goodbye and got out of bed to go dress for the trip.

  Walking into his closet, he looked over his clothes, thinking to himself how close he’d come to losing her. She was the only person who had stuck by him through thick and thin, always. He took a deep breath and sighed heavily. Duty, it was his duty to be king, but weeks like this made him wish he’d never born into the title. Slipping into his outfit, he walked back out to see Adara laying in his bed still. Her hair was splayed out across the pillows, her body teasingly spread out on-top of the covers. Zayn growled in excitement at her beauty. “We will finish this later, my pet,” he said with a cocky grin before he left to make his way to Nasir’s office to inform him of the good news.

  Seeing Nasir’s door closed, Zayn knocked twice, and then opened the heavy wooden door. Pushing inside, he saw Nasir staring at his computer; he appeared to be troubled by something.

  “Fear not my friend, I have great news, Nikole just called, she is with Alec and we are going to go pick her up.”

  Nasir’s shocked reaction was evident on his face, “Alec? I asked around about him. I was told he was still back in the home country. What is he doing back so soon? He was supposed to check in with us upon his return. Do you think he could be behind this?”

  Zayn sat down, understandin
g Nasir’s relief mixed with doubt about Alec. “She said he saved her life and she is fine. It sounded like her; she didn’t say anything that would lead me to believe she is in danger. I want to get to her right away though. Do you remember where his cabin is? It will take a good two hours to arrive there.”

  Nasir ran his hands over his keyboard and closed the picture he had open on the monitor. “I know I taught her how to defend herself, but Alec is different. He is a true Ghul. He was always out for blood, and I hate that she is there with him. Who knows what he has done to her? If you flash our way across the State we will get there faster than if we go on foot.”

  Zayn nodded in agreement, but then with a twinge of sadness he shook his head no. “I am sure she is injured and can’t flash, or else she would be home by now. We have to foot this one the old fashioned way.”

  Zayn stood up and started walking to the door. He heard Nasir start to move toward his side when he turned around suddenly. “I don’t want anyone to know about this. Let’s go bring my okht home, just you and me. What if we have a leak and someone tells Haydar what the plans are? I couldn’t live with myself.” Putting his hands on Nasir’s shoulder, he squeezed. “I know she is like a bent to you; I need you with me in order to do this. Come. Let’s go, my friend.”

  Adara looked out of the window and watched them leave to bring Nikole home. She knew that as soon as Nikole was home things would be chaotic at least for a few days. Adara decided to go back to her house and grab a few more things that she was missing. Heading down the stairwell, she waved goodbye to the guards on staff and informed them that she would be back in an hour or so. Heading to her car, she felt the weight of this event on her shoulders. So much happened to her; she didn’t even know where to begin. She started the engine and took off, making the ten-minute ride to her house in six.

  Pulling up to her house, she realized it has been about three days since she had been home. She and Zayn had been keeping each other company, and she hadn’t had time alone to stop and think about things. She decided to just take some time to rest and figure out what she wanted to do where the King of their race was concerned. Turning the car off and walking up to the front door, she just couldn’t help smiling when Zayn crossed her mind. Adara fumbled with her keys, trying to get them in the lock of the front door, when she heard a noise. Jumping and flinching, she turned around only to see her neighbor’s cat playing in the bushes. “Get a grip, Adara. Come on,” she said to herself. She unlocked the door and walked in.

  She moved through her house, gathering a few items and putting them in a bag. She started to smell something foul as she moved closer to the kitchen. She paused a moment; she knew that smell. Blood. Why did she smell blood? She sat her bag down and walked around the corner. She stood there in shock as she saw the Ghul’s, body cut up and mangled on her table. Blood still dripping off the glass, her floor was now red. She slowly backed up and grabbed her bag, running out the door.

  Outside in the car, she got out her phone and called Zayn, but he didn’t answer. Looking at the time, she realized he must have found the place where Nikole was. She decided all she could do was head back to his home to tell someone what happened. She tried to put the car into gear. Nothing happened. Adara slowly started to panic. Laying her head on the horn she put her arm around the steering wheel and began to cry. She realized she forgot to put the keys in. In her frantic state, she’d let them fall to the floor of the car. Pulling herself together, she turned the car on and drove away from her house. She had to find help. She had to tell someone there had been another murder.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Haydar received word from Leigh that Dominic had started working on his own agenda, killing people and disregarding orders. That useless, idiot always got into fucking trouble. Haydar took the chair he was sitting in and threw it against the wall. Pictures fell from the wall and shattered on the ground. Looking at the mess he made on the ground, he saw that one of the pictures that broke was his beloved Sarah. He felt his blood boil and his hands started to burn. Storming over to the photo, he knelt down and picked it up, placing it on his desk. He leaned back against the wall looking at her face, his mate, the only person who believed in him. Looking at the picture, the sketch of her face, gods, he could remember that face. He remembered the first day he met her, running away from his family, from the life they were denying him.

  Lying on the creek banks, Haydar watched as the stars danced up above him. He had not seen his family in a few centuries. Getting as far away from his okht as he could, he decided it was best to head west, up to England. He wanted nothing to do with anyone and wanted as little association with the ones who betrayed him as he could manage. They were nothing but filthy liars who only wanted to use him and not reward him. Well, he would show them. Thinking about his okht, he manifested a fireball in the shape of her face above his stomach. “Dearest okht, you will die by my hands, and so will your descendants. Never will there be peace in your house as long as I’m alive.” Letting the ball of fire soar through the air, he watched as it hit a tree and burned.

  “You shouldn’t do that you know,” he heard from off in the distance. Getting up and looking around, he saw the woman lying on a branch in one of the trees.

  “Oh, I shouldn’t? And why is that fair maiden?” Haydar stood and started to walk toward her, the tips of his fingers starting to tingle as his power waited to be summoned.

  “My home is in these trees, and I would hate for you to have burned mine up.” She hopped off the limb and walked over to him. “What made you light the tree on fire? It had done you no harm.”

  Haydar looked the woman over, not sure what to make of her. “I helped William, Duke of Normandy, in a few battles, so as payment he gave me part of the Nova Foresta. He didn’t mention that included in our deal, would be maidens who like to tell warriors what to do.”

  She eyed him, looking him up and down as she tried to figure out what he was all about. “He is a foolish human male. Why even bother with the likes of him? We should kill him off. I know who was behind his attempted assassination, and I am amazed they failed.”

  Haydar saw the blood lust in her eyes as she talked about her distaste for the human. How she would use him as a pawn. He had never met another like her before. She was a woman after his own heart, full of vengeance and hate. “What is your name or shall I just call you ‘Maiden’?” He watched her as she narrowed her eyes at him. He could feel his mind starting to hurt. What was she doing to him? He was forced to kneel on the ground. Fighting the urge as best he could, his body acquiesced to her will. She walked over to him and ran her fingers across his jawline.

  “My name is Sarah, and you will not burn any more of my forest down. I don’t care what anyone claimed they gave you.”

  He looked up at her in amazement, watching her black eyes swirl and the gold flecks form around her iris just seconds before feeling her pierce his mind. How she could control his mind… it was breathtaking. He had met his equal and he intended to keep her.

  Haydar snapped back into reality when he heard the sound of someone knocking on his door. “Enter,” he barked, knowing his anger was past the point of reasoning. One of his generals walked in and started delivering the news.

  “Dominic is out of control; he has started killing anyone he runs into. He needs to be stopped.” Haydar started to pace back and forth, trying to decide what he wanted to do with his soul surviving ebn’.

  “We need to put him down. Schedule our flight; I’m going to kill him myself.”

  Dominic walked into his hotel room and slammed the door, pacing back and forth, his body was shaking uncontrollably. How did he stop this hunger, this need? He moved his body to the bed but he didn’t really feel anything. The urge to kill was taking his senses over. More, he needed more. He needed to find someone else. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Who the fuck wanted him now? One moment of peace was all he asked for. He took the phone out and saw his abb, his fucking abb. He
would have been better off left for dead than raised by that man. Pressing ignore on his phone, he slipped it back in his pocket and took his knife out from the bag.

  He unsheathed the blade, the blood dripping from the cover to his pant leg. Running his finger through the blood, he brought it to his lips. Licking it from his skin, his body shivered at the flavour. Closing his eyes, he thought back to the kill, the man lying on the table, his screams echoing in his thoughts. Taking the knife in his other hand, he brought the tip down to his leg and pressed it into his skin. The blade started to penetrate; he could feel the cool metal entering his body. He closed his eyes, the pain taking him into a trance. He felt a soothing calmness fill his senses, when out of nowhere he heard a voice.

  “My ebn’, stop hurting yourself. Put down the knife; you don’t need this pain.” Dominic looked around the room. Not seeing anyone, he realized he must have imagined it. He started to dig the knife in deeper, and she appeared in front of him, dressed in light green silk dress with her black hair flowing down her back. “My ebn’, I said to stop. Do you want your abb to be right that your life is nothing more than worthless? Set the knife down, Dominic.”

  “Who are you? How did you get here?” He looked at her face; she looked so much like Derrik, like the photo his abb kept in his office. “How…” He watched her walk to him, reaching her hand out and setting it on his. Her touch felt like a rush of air brushing against his skin.

  “I’m here to save you, Dominic. You need to stop this. This isn’t your battle, this is your abb’s, and you don’t want to die.”