by Jenna Bernel
*****
TASTE FOR BLOOD
POUR
Nephil-Vamp Series, Book 2
By Jenna Bernel
*****
TASTE FOR BLOOD
POUR
Nephil-Vamp Series, Book 2
By Jenna Bernel
Copyright © 2014 by Jenna Bernel
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events or locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events locales or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental. The author holds all rights to this work. It is illegal to produce this novel without the written consent of the author herself.
For information:
http://jennabernel.com
Cover Photos by istockphoto.com
Cover Design by J.R. Nelson
Table of Contents
Preface
Chapter 1: Reborn
Chapter 2: School Daze
Chapter 3: Break my Bones
Chapter 4: Lost Allies
Chapter 5: One Step
Chapter 6: Reality of a Dream
Chapter 7: Half-Angel?
Chapter 8: In the Glimmer
Chapter 9: Pool of Red
Chapter 10: Nephil Gene
Chapter 11: Waving the White Flag
Chapter 12: Cloud Crashing
Chapter 13: The Kate Way
Chapter 14: Last to Know
Chapter 15: Bring me Back
Chapter 16: Tag Along
Chapter 17: In Disguise
Chapter 18: The Other Entrance
Chapter 19: Through the Vent
Chapter 20: With One Kiss
Chapter 21: All Dressed Up
Chapter 22: Smell of Roses
Chapter 23: Masquerade
Chapter 24: Homecoming
Preface
One Year Ago
I looked over the dusty room as I sat on the bed, feeling as nervous as a vamp can, but doing my best to hide it. My grandma, Ulla, warned me if I planned to go through with this, and dared to venture into what I now know is called The Basement, under no circumstances could I show that I was anything but a cold-blooded vampire. The young Infinity I met merely hours ago, and who, in reality, was not so young, sat down on the bed beside me and gave me a reassuring grin.
"You look nervous. This really is your first time... Don't worry, it won't hurt," he said encouragingly, as I cursed myself for already failing my grandma's warning. Hiding my emotions, which were much more obvious in me than most of our kind, was quite a task.
I looked up at the vamp who introduced himself as Eli, and found surprising warmth in his amber-ringed hazel eyes. Maybe that's why I agreed to join him in this private room of The Basement. My first few trips here so far had been nightmarish. I saw a newly turned vamp bite a blood whore on the dance floor, after which he was promptly dragged away by a bouncer. His last sound was a haunting scream. I shuddered at the memory, and wondered why I felt the need to come back here after that. I was sure the horrifying scene I witnessed didn't even scratch the surface of the macabre, unsettling behavior that regularly took place down there.
Eli put his hand on my shoulder to get my attention, and I looked into his comforting eyes.
"It's going to be okay. We don't have to do this if you're not ready. I've been searching for you for hundreds of years. I can wait another week," Eli said. I looked at him curiously, my breath hitching ever so slightly at the words he used to reassure me: It's going to be okay, the same words my faceless maker chose to comfort me as my life was changed forever. I wondered if that was a common vamp sentiment. I tried to shake it off and just focus on Eli.
"You've been searching for me for hundreds of years? Is that some sort of lame vamp pick-up line?" I asked and he laughed.
"That depends, is it working?" Eli teased, and I gave him a small grin. This is why I was first drawn to him. I knew I had so much more to learn about our kind and this peculiar hierarchy of power, but Eli was the only vamp I had met so far that I cared to say more than three words to. He was the first one I ever talked to in this dark, demented club, and the first person who didn't make me feel like a choice piece of meat. He somehow managed to retain a decent, human sense of humor as well, which I had yet to find in anyone else since first visiting The Basement.
"No, I'm ready. I'd like to try it at least once. I don't know if I'll be back next week. Honestly, I'm not sure this place is for me," I confessed. I knew it was dangerous to open up to him, but something about him urged me to trust him, even with my biggest secret.
"I understand. It wasn't always this way, you know? We weren't always so…" Eli trailed off, seeming at a loss for words to describe their behavior too, and how it evolved over time. He sighed and looked at me, almost enviously, brushing my long auburn hair past my shoulders with his fingers to expose my neck. I nodded absently, not really knowing what he meant. Since he had almost five hundred years on me, I couldn't begin to know what our society was like during any period of time, but this one, and I didn't particularly like what I saw. I took a deep breath as he leaned into my neck, and the cold tip of his nose grazed my skin. I closed my eyes, intoxicated by his cologne, making me think I walked into a scrumptious bakery instead of the dingy room. The scent of blood oranges and cherries was filling my scenes.
The bloodlust started to take over. I was losing control of my instincts, and for the first time since I was turned three years ago, I allowed the full vamp to shine through. It felt good. Nothing scared me. No emotions clouded my thoughts. I could think only of blood, his blood. My fangs sprang so swiftly from my gums, I almost punctured my lip.
"Do you want to go first?" Eli asked with a husky voice as he tried to control his own bloodlust, still dipping into my neck. He must have heard my fangs springing. I smiled to myself. I knew I picked a gentleman for my first time. I nodded my head, eyeing the spot where his pulse would thump, if he had one, and he slowly sat upright to look at me. His pupils were almost fully dilated, the fiery amber ring now only a small sliver of light. It made them look like the sun during a partial eclipse. I was completely rapt in his eyes as I combed his features. They looked like little halos adorning his chiseled face, and something deep inside me knew what I was doing was right. Eli was destined to be my first taste. I swallowed as he tilted his chin to the ceiling and braced his hand behind my head, guiding me towards him. Then my chilled lips touched his polished skin. I took one last, deep breath, closed my eyes, and bit down. A few moments later, I pulled away, afraid if I didn't stop then, I never would.
"Wow…" I said, wiping my mouth clean, and resisting the deep hunger instincts that kept urging me to leave the room, and search for a human on the dance floor. My body was coursing with power, and I could tell that his Infinity gifts instantly made me stronger and faster than I already was. But there was something else too, something that I couldn't put my finger on.
"It's my heightened telepathy. Can you hear me?" Eli said, holding my face to look at me. My mouth fell open, realizing his question was being spoken into my mind.
"Yes," I answered mentally, slapping my hand over my mouth in awe as he smiled.
"That's incredible!" I said out loud, completely elated by this newest Infinity Gift that I never even knew was possible.
Eli dropped his hands from my face. "Thank you, I have found it quite useful over the years," he said with a playful smirk, while looking at me knowingly, which I didn't understand.
"I imagine so. Do you have to be touching?" I asked, eager to go back to the main room and try thi
s out.
"Yes, and you have to channel it. Someone has to be trying to speak to me as we touch, or I have to be actively trying to eavesdrop. Think of it as having a conversation through a wall. Someone has to press their ear against the wall as the other one speaks up," he explained, and I shook my head, dumbfounded.
"Amazing… how long will it last?"
"An hour or two," he said, eyeing my neck with his own bloodlust, eager to know what Gifts I had to offer. Truthfully, I had no idea what a taste of my blood, or what I now know is called Infinity blood, would do to him.
I wondered if he would be able to turn back into a human for a few hours, since I could turn voluntarily. But maybe that was the last thing a vampire would want: to feel human, and be vulnerable. I was suddenly anxious, realizing how much danger I was truly putting myself in by coming here. Being here only confirmed what I had already known to be true, deep down. It didn't matter which world I chose to reside in, because I didn't fit in either of them. I was as alone above as I was below at The Basement. At least above, in the daylight, no one could kill me. I should have listened to my grandma. That was not smart. But as those thoughts swirled in my head, at the same time, I sensed I had to know.
Eli put his hand on mine. "You can trust me, Daniella, I promise. Whatever happens, it's going to be okay," he said into my mind, calming my anxiety-riddled thoughts. Even though my head was clouded with bloodlust and power, something about his voicing those familiar words, put me at ease. I nodded that I was ready, feeling as though we had been friends our whole lives.
I pulled my loose tendrils of hair away from my neck, and leaned into him as I closed my eyes. He dipped down, and I tilted my chin into his hair, inhaling his bakery mixed with rose water scent. I realized that if I didn't calm down soon, I might involuntarily turn human from the overwhelming emotions starting to course through me. It had never happened before, not being able to control the turn at my own will, but still, I couldn't take that risk. Then I'd really be in trouble.
I heard Eli's fangs emerging in his mouth, and when the daggers sunk into my skin, I had a flashback. I hadn't felt those razor-edged stilettos touching my flesh since I was first turned. My eyes flew open, and I gasped, trying to forget the memory that changed me into this, whatever this was. The fuzzy toxin from Eli's bite that I had only heard about, took over as he drew in his first sip, and its effects quickly abolished my reservations. My head now felt tingly, buzzing with endorphins, and I was begging for more. I almost giggled from the pleasant effect, and could see how it hooked human prey so easily. Everything about the sensation was easily addictive.
Seconds later, and much too soon, Eli retracted his fangs from my neck, jolting upright like he had just been electrocuted. His eyes showed genuine fear, wide with shock as he desperately grabbed at his throat like he was suffocating. A terrified scream caught in my throat as I looked helplessly on at him, having no understanding of what was happening. He tried to speak, but couldn't, and gripped my shoulders like a vise.
"You have to get us out of here. No one can see what's happening or they'll kill you! Hurry!" Eli shouted into my head. Right then, his eclipsed, haloed eyes rolled into his skull, until I could only see the whites. It was as if the shadowed sun was now obliterated by the clouds. He crumpled backward onto the bed, flopping up and down, like he was having a seizure.
My vamp survival mode kicked into high gear. The toxin’s effect decreased as my other instincts took over. My eyes darted around the room, and I spotted a second door that I hoped led to the building’s exterior. I jumped up in one leap, landing in front of the door, and to my surprise, it wasn't even locked. It opened effortlessly. I was shocked anyone would be that careless, and risk losing a blood whore so easily. That is, unless she were Tranced, and had her puncture wounds healed first. I opened the door just a crack, to see where it led, and smiled when I found what looked like an unlit side alley. Perfect.
I poked my head just enough to peer down toward the alley's entrance, only to see a shadow of a man walking past the dumpster. I quickly retreated inside. I gave the stranger a few moments, hoping he would soon be gone, praying he wasn't some bouncer doing an outer perimeter patrol, or I'd definitely be screwed. I risked another look, and when I peeked out the second time, I saw nothing in the darkness but the dumpster. I looked back at Eli, seeing that his seizure had diminished to a small tremor. I wasn’t sure what the hell I would do, but knew that if I didn't stop freaking out, I would turn human, and this was no time for showing my emotions. I needed my instincts. I had to act fast to get us out of here, or, like Eli said, we'd both be dead by dawn.
I leapt back to the bed and picked Eli up. It still seemed strange to me, the ability to lift a man twice my size with little or no exertion. I lobbed him over my shoulder, and his now steady tremor vibrated through my whole body, but at least, it reassured me that he wasn't dead, yet. I walked us cautiously out of the private room and into the alley, closing the door as soundlessly as I could behind me. When I got to the end that opened up to the street, I rested Eli against the wall, deciding my next move. I peered carefully around, wondering where to go. I didn't have a car with me, and there was no way I could carry Eli much further without someone spotting us. I gulped, thinking I should call Evan now and say goodbye. I figured there was no way I would make it through the night.
Then I heard a buzzing sound as the fluorescent lights of a motel began to flicker on, less than a block down the road. The “M” and “T” were the only parts of the sign not blinking or burnt out. Anything was better than being totally exposed out here in the open like a sitting duck. I picked Eli up again, pulling his arm over my shoulder and holding him by the waist. I let his feet drag as I rushed down the block towards safety. I tried to walk at a normal human pace just in case we ran into a vamp on his or her way to the club. The street was deserted, as it usually was for The Basement gathering events, but as long as no vamps caught his Infinity scent, I hoped to just pass us off as clubbers, making him appear as my blood whore who had drunken one too many.
I opened the filthy door of the motel. I was hoping that since it just opened for the evening, we might be alone. I walked right up to the reeking man behind the bullet-proof glass, who was sitting at a desk. He wore a pit-stained, white tank top, from which his bulging gut stuck out at the bottom. He looked extremely anxious and kept darting his eyes around, like someone was about to jump him; and in a place like that, it didn't really seem too farfetched. He met my eyes when I approached, and I immediately let the glow of my amethyst irises wash over his face, causing the glass between us to reflect an eerie purple light.
"Give me a room, and do not let anyone, under any circumstances, disturb us. If someone comes asking about me, you will have no recollection of my face or his," I said, pointing to Eli's slumped head. The foul-smelling man nodded as he slipped a key through the barricaded opening.
"Now, close down the motel for the night and go take a shower. You reek," I commanded. I decided the second part of my order was only aimed at doing the human population a service. My muscles stiffened when I thought I heard something like a small laugh or snicker, and I spun around, still holding Eli, while looking for the source. Perhaps I was just being paranoid because I was so disoriented.
When I turned back to the clerk, he was already standing up and closing down his area, obeying my trance instructions. I grabbed the key, noting the room number on it, and scrambled to get us behind closed doors, where I could take a closer look at Eli. I kept pleading in my head that his strange reaction to my blood would soon pass.
I checked my hip against the stubborn wooden door, leaving a dent as it swung open, and laid Eli down on the bed. I felt disgusted as I propped a dingy pillow under his head, knowing how vile it was to have a vamp of his age and dignity brought to a place like this. I still didn’t know much about our culture, but I imagined someone of Eli's age would definitely have had enough time to prefer indulging his taste for the finer things in
life. If I could have figured out a way to wake him up, he'd probably take one look around, and think that he must’ve died and gone to hell. I was pretty sure that was where all of us vamps ended up anyway, even a half-vamp like me.
I felt sick and overwhelmed as I brushed the hair away from his closed eyes, and willed them to open. It all happened so fast, I still didn't know how to process it. I thought my Gifts would be special, and not kill people. Or kill vampires, but still. Eli didn't seem all bad. There was a softness there, deeply hidden behind his eyes, and I didn't think that he deserved to die. I took his hand, and using his own Gift, the one that he had just demonstrated for me, I hoped he could hear me.
"I am so sorry, Eli. I never meant for this to happen. Please don't die on me. You have to hang on!" I squeezed his hand tighter, watching as he continued to tremble.
"Stay with me, I'll be back. Finally, I'll be back…" Eli’s words were barely spoken in a whisper inside my head. The last few indicated to me that it was my final chance of speaking to him before he went into what seemed like an even deeper, comatose state. My eyes went wide as I frantically scanned his body for any signs of consciousness, begging for him to wake up, but nothing happened. I didn't understand what was going on, but it was clearly something epic, and possibly capable of flipping my life upside-down all over again. I could sense it in the air.
Eli’s tremors decreased to nothing, but I couldn't tell if he was dead or alive, since vampires have no pulses to check. However, I've heard you'd know it when a vamp died, so I took it as a good sign. I wouldn't leave his side, even if he insisted that I do so. I promised myself I would never be like them; I would be different. I would live in this damn motel if I had to, waiting for the moment when Eli came back to me. He had to come back to me. I couldn't live with myself if he didn't.
I walked into the bathroom and wiped away the smudges on the mirror, so I could see my eyes. I looked at their unique amethyst color, feeling like a stranger in my own body. What was happening? Who was I? Ever since I was turned, those two thoughts continually plagued me. Tonight, I went to The Basement in search of answers, but only discovered more mysteries. And now, I had jeopardized more than just my own life with unmitigated danger.