wide with fear and rage and something I couldn’t quite
identify. A light seemed to shine from them as his gaze caught
and held mine. Our eye contact couldn’t have lasted more than
a second, but it felt as if everything, from the moment we’d
gotten the flat tire to our desperate flight through the woods to the blood I knew was rising through the back of my sweater,
had been leading to this moment. Looking at Cryder now, it
seemed unfathomable that I had ever questioned him. It didn’t
matter what Bristol said, that he had suggested he and Cryder
had been together the whole time. One look was enough to tell
me the truth. Cryder’s arrival meant my safety.
Bristol hadn’t even turned to look. “You’re too late,” he
said softly.
“No--.” I choked.
“She’s mine. And the other one, she’s dead.”
“No!” The word ripped itself from my lungs. “Cecile!”
Bristol bared his fangs at me…
Cryder lunged. He barreled toward both of us so fast
that I couldn’t hold back a scream, but somehow, he managed
to strike only Bristol, peeling him away from his stance in
front of me. I backed around to the far side of the tree I’d been pressed up against and peeked out to watch, panting to catch
my breath. They fought vigorously, terrifyingly, too quickly to
track their motions. I couldn’t tell who was winning.
Watching them now, I realized fully how much danger I’d
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been in. Bristol could have snapped my bones in one hand.
Cryder. .Cryder could have broken my neck if he’d been
careless while we were kissing. How could I have allowed him
to touch me?
Even now, watching him, I wanted to do it again.
He could lift me, I thought. He could hurt me. But he
didn’t.
The brawl rolled to the right a little, and Cecile came
into view. Instinctively, I ran for her. I dropped to my knees
beside her and grabbed her hand. “Cecile? Oh, God, please
wake up. We need to get out of here. Cecile.”
She remained motionless. I tried to remember CPR.
Did you even give someone CPR for a head wound? No, it was
for a stopped heart, wasn’t it? I should check her pulse. I
fumbled with her wrist, trying to find the telltale beats that
would let me know she was all right, but I found nothing.
She’s dead, Bristol had said. Was he right?
“She isn’t dead,” came a voice, as if it was reading my
mind.
Startled, I looked up. A man I didn’t recognize stood
over us. He was older than me, older than Cryder or Bristol,
but not by much. In his twenties, maybe. “Who are you?”
He didn’t look at me. Instead, he sank to his knees and
took Cecile’s wrist from my hand. “You’re looking in the
wrong place,” he said. “You can feel the pulse here…” he
moved his fingers to her neck, just under her jawbone, “or
here.”
“She’s alive?”
BLOOD ORIGINS- BOOK ONE
“Yes. But fading.”
“Who are you?”
“Forgive me. My name is Drake.”
“Drake like the hip-hop artist?”
“If you like.”
“You’re with them.” I gestured to Bristol and Cryder.
It was an accusation, and Drake knew it. “I’m
with...Cryder. Yes.”
“You’re like them.”
“Yes.”
“What are you?”
For the first time, he met my eyes. “I think you know
the answer to that, Rena.”
“How do you know my name?”
“The same way Bristol knew to hunt you. The same way
Cryder knew you needed his concoction—” he sniffed. “You’ve
been drinking it, good girl.”
“How do you know that?”
“Rena, please. There will be time for answers, I promise.
But right now, you must decide: do you want your friend to
live?”
“What?”
“I can save her,” he said. “I can save her right here and
now. But there’s only one way. She’s too far gone to be taken
to a hospital. Too much blood has been lost.”
“What are you going to do? Are you a doctor?”
“Rena.”
“Of course, I want you to save her! What kind of
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question is that?” I was breathing too fast, near tears. I was
angry and panicked and felt like screaming. Cecile lay dying—
nearly gone—on the ground in front of me, and we were
talking about whether I wanted her saved? Why were we talking
at all? “Save her!”
“Rena, you have to understand. You have to calm
down. You’re her best friend, yes? Like family?”
“Yes. Yes. We’re.. we’re sisters. Oh, God, Cecile…”
“You can make this decision for her.”
“She’s here because of me. I’m the one who wanted us
to follow Cryder. I’m the one Bristol wanted. If it weren’t for
me.”
“Be quiet.” Drake’s voice was sharp. “Listen to me,
Rena. In minutes it will be too late. I can save her, but in order to do it, you’ll have to give her up. The friend, the.. the sister you know will be preserved, but she will lose herself in the
process. Do you understand?”
“No,” I whispered, suddenly terrified beyond anything
I’d felt so far.
“If I save her,” Drake said, holding my gaze, “she’ll be
like me.”
“Like you?” Vampire.
“Like me and Cryder.” And Bristol, he didn’t say, but I
saw his eyes cut towards the fight before returning to me.
They were gold, his eyes, and shining.
Like Cryder’s. Not like Bristol’s.
I swallowed the bile that was rising in my throat and
squeezed my best friend’s hand. “Do it.”
BLOOD ORIGINS- BOOK ONE
Chapter Eleven
DRAKE'S EYES DARKENED. AT FIRST, I THOUGHT
it was a trick of the light, but before long the shining golden
color had faded to a matte yellow-brown, and then to black.
With everything I saw from these people, every weird little
behavior, I was more and more frightened. Every moment I
spent with them, they seemed less and less human.
Drake bared his teeth, showing fangs where the canine
teeth should be, longer than normal teeth and tapered to a
point. There was something odd about that—odder than the
existence of fangs in the mouth of this guy in front of me—and
it took me a while to put my finger on it. It wasn’t until he
raised his own wrist to his lips and bit down that I realized—he
wasn’t menacing. He didn’t have a snarl on his face, and he
didn’t look as if he was trying to show me his fangs to scare me.
He’d simply opened his mouth and there they were.
He can’t help it, I thought.
What difference does that make? He’s still a vampire!
But he’s saving Cecile…
I didn’t know. I couldn’t tell who the good guys were
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anymore, who I should trust and who I should fear.
I just
watched, dazed, as Drake held his arm back out. He was
bleeding now, from two puncture wounds that seemed deep. I
knew they’d match the fangs I’d seen. What was he going to
do?
He tipped Cecile’s head back and, using a thumb, held
her chin to open her mouth. The other arm, the bleeding one,
he lifted over her face, angling it so that drops of blood fell on her tongue. It took me a moment to register what he was
doing. By the time I did, he’d finished and was holding her
body in an upright position in his arms. She looked like she’d
fallen asleep sitting up.
He’d fed her blood. I gagged but swallowed hard against
it. He was doing what I’d told him to do, I reminded myself,
although that didn’t make me feel much better. And I trusted
Drake. I honestly believed he was here for Cecile’s benefit, that he’d meant what he said about wanting to save her. Something
was at work here that I didn’t understand, that was for sure,
and it would be a mistake for me to try to involve myself in it.
Suddenly, a loud growl came from behind me,
accompanied by something that was closer to a whimper.
Drake’s head jerked up in alarm. I spun around. In my horror
over what was happening to Cecile, I’d managed to forget all
about Bristol and Cryder fighting behind me. Now I saw that
they’d separated a little and were circling each other, like
boxers preparing for the next blow. Cryder had a hand pressed
to his shoulder, his face contorted in a grimace. As I watched,
Bristol spat a mouthful of blood and flesh onto the ground and
BLOOD ORIGINS- BOOK ONE
smiled, his face masked with blood.
I retched.
Drake grabbed my arm and pulled me back. His eyes
met mine. “You should run,” he said.
“I’m not leaving Cecile.”
He nodded. “I thought you would say that.”
I was prepared to fight him more, but to my surprise, he
conceded the point. Maybe he really did understand. He pulled
me in closer to him and I got the feeling he was trying to shield me. Why? Bristol and Cryder were preoccupied with each
other. They weren’t paying any attention to me. If Cecile were
awake, I’d have been willing to bet the two of us could get up
and walk away from this nightmare, and neither of them
would have even noticed we were gone.
Right?
Right?
It didn’t feel right. Suddenly I felt cold. If this had
nothing to do with me and I could truly just walk away from
it, why had Cryder and Bristol both been so fascinated with me
from the moment they’d laid eyes on me? I’d wanted to believe
Cryder just had a crush, but if I was honest with myself, I’d
known for a long time something more was at work here. The
way I’d started to get sick and he’d immediately known what
to do for me.. that was no coincidence. And then there was the
fact that, after cornering us in the woods, Bristol had focused
his attention on me. He’d made it seem as though killing me
was his top priority, and whatever happened to Cecile was just
collateral damage.
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For that matter, how had Cryder and Drake known
where to find me?
Shrinking behind Drake now, I watched the exchange
of blows between Cryder and Bristol, the horrible
discoloration of Bristol’s jaw from having bitten Cryder. As I
looked on, Bristol landed a punch in Cryder’s ribs. Cryder
howled and crumpled to the ground. Bristol laughed.
“They’re fighting about me,” I said. “Aren’t they?”
“It isn’t quite that simple,” Drake said.
“It’s not complicated. Bristol wants to kill me. Cryder
wants to stop him. Right?”
“Well, but…”
“That’s right, isn’t it?”
Drake didn’t answer, but I didn’t really need him to. I
was capable of seeing what was happening right in front of me.
This fight was because of me, and if Cryder were to come to
harm, that would be because of me, too.
I darted out from behind Drake before he could stop
me, knowing he would intervene if I gave him the chance, and
ran to Cryder. “Bristol! Stop!”
To my surprise, he actually did stop, stepping back to
regard me as I placed my body in front of Cryder’s. His
eyebrows disappeared into his shaggy hairline and he laughed.
“You haven’t had enough? I thought you’d know when to quit,
girl.”
“Rena!” Drake yelled.
I ignored him. “This isn’t about Cryder. Let him go.”
“I’m not keeping him, am I?” Bristol spread his arms.
BLOOD ORIGINS- BOOK ONE
“Cryder, you’re free to go.”
“You know I won’t,” Cryder spits. “Rena, get back.”
“No.”
“Get back.” He got to his feet and staggered, obviously
in pain.
“Cryder, you’re bleeding, just...just stop. Please.”
“My God,” Bristol said softly, a bloody smile blooming
on his lips. “You love him, don’t you? You really love him.”
My cheeks flamed. It’s none of his business. I wanted
desperately to be alone somewhere, just me and Cryder, to
figure out what my feelings were, if I even had them. It felt so
unfair that I had to do this here that my heart was searching for answers in the middle of a life or death scenario. I remembered
watching Titanic when I was younger and thinking how
romantic it all seemed, and how I couldn’t wait to meet my
own Leonardo DiCaprio. Only now did I realize how awful
and ugly it was to realize you were in love with someone you
might be just moments away from losing.
I turned my back to Cryder and faced Bristol. “I know
what this is about.”
“Do you?”
“It’s about me. It’s always been about me. I don’t know
why, but for some reason you want to kill me.” I swallowed
hard, trying not to let myself think about what I was doing. All
that mattered was Cryder’s ragged, pained breathing behind
me. All that mattered was keeping Bristol from hurting him
any more to get to me. “If you want me, just take me. I’ll go
with you.”
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“Rena, no.” Cryder’s voice was a sob.
I couldn’t turn to him. If I saw his face, I might change
my mind. “Cryder, you and Drake take Cecile. Save yourselves.
Please. We don’t all need to die here.”
“No one needs to die here.”
I wished I could believe that, but I just wasn’t confident
in Cryder’s ability to win this fight. “It’s all right, Cryder. I know what I’m doing.”
“That’s right, Cryder.” Bristol smirked. “She knows
what she’s doing.”
“Be safe,” I said, and stepped toward Bristol.
Before I could register that he had moved, his hand was
around my throat. The fact that I’d expected the attack didn’t
make it any less painful, and my body tried to gasp reflexively,
but I couldn’t draw
breath. He peeled his upper lip back from
his fangs, exposing them menacingly—so different from the
way Drake had bared his before biting his wrist for Cecile. If I
hadn’t known better, I might have guessed the two were
entirely different creatures.
Bristol lifted me into the air with one hand. My feet
dangled, but I refused to kick at him. I wouldn’t go out
fighting. I wouldn’t give my friends reason to question leaving
me here. I closed my eyes and thought, I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m
fine. This would all be over soon.
“You stupid, stupid girl,” Bristol hissed. “This was never
about killing you.”
My eyes flew open.
“Killing you?” He scoffed. “As if I care whether you live
BLOOD ORIGINS- BOOK ONE
or die. All I care for is your blood.”
My blood?
He sniffed at my neck again. A shiver ran through my
skin like spiders were crawling over it. “So much power. When
I’ve drained you, it’ll all be mine. And then who will be able to stand in my way? Not your friends. They can start running now
if they want, but once I’m done with you…” He licked behind
my ear, and I recoiled internally disgusted. “I’ll be nuclear. I’ll be unstoppable. All thanks to you, you delicious bomb of a
human. You’ll give me the power I’ve always dreamed of.”
Oh, God. I’d made a horrible mistake.
“Rena!” Cryder’s voice was anguished.
Now I kicked out at Bristol, as hard as I could, but he
dodged me easily and laughed. “Too late, girl. You should have
run when you had the chance. You should have trusted Cryder
more when he tried to save you. Now you’ll both die in the
end. So, will you, Drake, and—” He sniffed the air. “I see what
you’ve done to that girl. She’s not safe either, then. I hope
you’re all proud of yourselves.”
I wanted to scream. All I’d wanted—so desperately—
was to save Cryder. Instead, my rash actions were going to get
everyone I loved killed. The one upside was that I wouldn’t live
to see it.
Bristol’s hand squeezed my neck even tighter. The
darkness started closing in, as the lack of air in my lungs made
my vision dim. I closed my eyes and waited for it to be over.
But it never came.
Instead, I heard a tearing sound, accompanied by a
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meaty squish—oh God, was this my death? —but suddenly
breath rushed back into my lungs and I dropped to my hands
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