Blood Flows Deep (Ryze #1)

by N. Isabelle Blanco

Her heart. I can see the pulse pounding in her neck. Can hear it merging its rhythm with my own.

  Yes . . .

  No!

  My throat convulses, an odd thirst sliding deep. I’ve never felt anything like this. Memory whispers that I’ve heard of this before, but I can’t focus past the pulsations of heat in my head and groin. I push her back an inch or two, trying to clear my mind.

  “I was being followed . . .”

  Huh? Is the girl talking?

  Shaking my head, I try to regain some clarity. “What?” My voice is nearly unrecognizable. I hear the echo behind it growing.

  “I said . . . I was running be-because . . . two guys. Being chased—”

  “What!”

  Someone tried to hurt her. Tried to hurt what’s mine. Rip them apart. Destroy them . . .

  Ismini’s voice pulls me back from the edge. “Two guys. Things. They were chasing me before you came.”

  The pounding in my head grows worse, but she’s still shaking, and the need to get her somewhere safe overrides everything else.

  She looks both scared and agonized. Sweat is gathering on her brow, and her skin turns a darker shade of red.

  Wait. Red?

  Something’s wrong. Something’s happening to her. Something I don’t understand.

  “Dyletri?”

  The fear in her voice is unacceptable. Everything within me demands that I protect her. Ridiculous, considering what I came for, but I’m powerless against my instincts. I lift Ismini into my arms as gently as possible.

  She cries out from the movement, and her skin reddens further.

  Home. I have to get her to Enzyria. Take her to Vedlyl, the God of Medicine. Whatever is happening to her, I have no idea what it is or how to fix it.

  Fear clouds my logic, filling me with a type of panic I’ve never known before. Without another thought, I break our molecules apart, sending us hurtling through the dimensions, straight for Enzyria.

  I can’t get her there fast enough.

  CHAPTER 4

  ISMINI

  I’ve often wondered what death would feel like. What is it like to be pure consciousness, free of a mortal shell? Free of a human prison? However, I’m not dead. I’m being ripped through the very fabric of reality, and it isn’t freedom I’m experiencing.

  It’s pain exemplified.

  Everything goes dark. Air rushes and roars past my ears. Like dropping at full speed on a roller coaster, my body is propelled forward. I try to reach up and cling to Dyletri. I try to cling to anything, but there’s nothing left for me to cling to.

  Nothing. Not even myself.

  Thrown into a state of in-between, my body’s matter is dispersed and thinned enough to be shoved through the layers that make up the dimensions. My consciousness is trapped between life and death while my molecules travel violently, reaching speeds that could make light envious.

  It all lasts ten seconds at the most. Maybe less. Regardless, they’re seconds that seem to fucking last forever. Even without a body, I feel the agony, and it’s so great that my mind refuses to process it.

  Then, in a blur, reality comes back. The roaring stops, and my body slams back into solid form.

  It’s like I’ve been hit head-on by a freight train. The air rushes into my re-formed lungs so fast it burns. I gasp brokenly, see a flash of color, and the world around me reappears between surges of black. I see the sky, the pink and light blue hue of it.

  Instead of tall buildings and glass, there are thick forests all around. I catch a glimpse of mountains and trees surrounding a clearing, which I’m pretty sure is paved with marble.

  Yeah, it has to be. The moment I collapse onto it, pain explodes. Somehow, Dyletri wasn’t able to hold on to me.

  “Ismini!”

  Every bone in my body wails with the impact. My eyes widen and my chest heaves. I try to move, try to claw at my chest. Everything burns, as if my organs are trying to leave my body.

  A gurgled sound leaves me.

  All the heat in my body disappears in an instant. A bone-deep chill comes over me, even as blood rushes to the surface of my skin.

  It’s calling to him. Just like in the fucking alley. The memory blankets my mind, pulling me momentarily away from the agony and back to the moment I first met Dyletri’s gaze.

  Oh God, his eyes had dilated so much that they almost went black. The bits of his irises that remained visible had flashed white and stayed that way.

  Then his hand had tensed against my face. A current of power sizzled through his fingers and into my skin. When he began reading my thoughts, it only got worse. I felt his energy slide into me, a whisper that nudged through the middle of my mind.

  Panic, pain, awareness, desire. Too fucking much for me to sift through.

  Images began running through my mind. I could freaking see him probing through my early childhood. Like a movie on fast forward, moment after moment had been replayed for both of us to witness. He’d seen everything. My shitty childhood. My job. My friends.

  My fantasies.

  My desire for him shamed me, wrestled with anger and conquered all of my common sense. Then hunger rose, victorious, hammering into me and demanding I find the strength to crawl into that gorgeous god’s lap.

  But then . . . then . . .

  I felt violated as Dyletri dug deeper. Heat burned my cheeks. I ached to break the connection but couldn’t. It was too late and I was too weak. One moment I was seeing my dismal childhood, the next I was seeing myself in my bed.

  With my vibrator. He saw my goddamn birthday present. Worse, he saw me using it, and found himself reflected back in that memory.

  He had snarled then, pulling his lips back to reveal his teeth. He sucked in a sharp breath between those clenched teeth, and the look on his face at that moment would forever brand itself in my memory. It was impossible. It couldn’t be, but fuck there was no denying it.

  He’d looked hungry.

  Starving.

  My eyes widened, watching as two of his perfect teeth elongated. His already pointed incisors seemed to grow longer and sharper and vicious. Vicious and sexy. So sexy that, even in my shock, my abdomen had clenched and throbbed.

  I should have been afraid, but there was no room in my overheated body for such an emotion. I’d only wanted to get away from him. I hadn’t wanted him to see more of the thoughts flying through my mind—thoughts that all ended with either one or both of us naked.

  Well, that or me using my new vibrator. And he’d already seen enough of that.

  Fucker.

  Sweat slides down my face as the memory becomes too much. My need for him expands, demanding him. Again.

  I feel sick. Vulnerable. Out of control.

  Whatever was happening to me in the alley magnifies to the point of violence. Biting my lip, I hold back a whimper as tremors rack me so hard it’s like my bones rattle and my teeth chatter.

  “Ismini!”

  Oh, God. Please. Please touch me. You’ll make it better. Touch me.

  I have no idea where those thoughts are coming from, but I know they’re true. He can make this go away. All I need are his hands on me, anywhere, and it’ll stop. If I were able to move, I would latch onto him.

  Dyletri kneels next to me and wraps one of his hands around my waist. The other one strokes my face. My lower lip. His worried voice caresses everything else.

  “I moved too fast. Forgive me. Are you alright?” He sounds so genuinely concerned. His tone is deeper. Softer. “Ismini, talk to me.” His touch is light, but I feel it seep into my being.

  An ache slides into my heart, causing it to do that strange fluttering thing. Panicked, I pull at my sweater, desperately trying to rip through it and clutch my chest.

  “Ianthen! Cyake!”

  I cry out as Dyletri picks me up. Blinking, I try to raise my head to look at him.

  “Hold on, Ismini. We’re going to help you,” he says, cradling me against his chest.

  I’m still trembling as
he begins running, but being so close to him distracts me. He smells unlike anything I’ve experienced. The scent eases my pain even as it worsens my hunger.

  Dyletri moves so fast that the world once again becomes a blur. I fight to stay awake even as I hear several other pairs of footsteps heading our way.

  “Cyake! Ianthen! Damn it, I don’t know what’s happening to her. I traveled too fast, I guess, but that’s not all. It started before we left Earth.”

  “What the hell happened?”

  “I have no idea. She was running from someone when I went for her. She said she was being followed, then she collapsed.” Dyletri shifts me in his arms. “Ismini, open your eyes. Look at me.”

  I comply, confused. Shit, when did he get so close? A lock of his white hair falls over his brow as he leans toward me.

  He stares deeper into my eyes, and all I can think is that he’s too gorgeous for his own good. Too-full bottom lip, an intricate tattoo that peeks out from the sleeves of his white T-shirt, and those strange blue and silver eyes.

  He enters my mind again. I want to snap at him and ask him what the fuck he thinks he’s doing. Is he after more of my past? Or worse, my fantasies of him?

  But instead, I see him go straight for the memory of the two “men” who were following me.

  I wasn’t hallucinating. What the fuck were they? Was one of them really freaking blue?

  Dyletri’s nostrils flare, then he freezes. A beastlike sound vibrates behind his tense, closed mouth. “Enteax. Lisrn.”

  “What did you just say?” one of the other voices asks. I can tell by the timbre of the two new voices that they’re also gods. Just like Dyletri’s, there’s a slight raspy echo behind their words.

  “It was fucking Enteax and Lisrn. They were after her.” Dyletri glares at whoever is standing in front of us.

  I want to see who he’s talking to, but I feel myself growing weaker and weaker.

  Out of nowhere, my eyes lock on Dyletri’s throat, on the pounding vein there, and my insides cramp again. I cry out, feeling like my midsection has been splashed with acid, and arch in Dyletri’s arms.

  What is this? Dear God, what’s happening to me?

  “Come. Bring her into the medical wing.”

  “I’ll get Vedlyl. He’ll attend to her.”

  “Cyake, you get Vedlyl. Ianthen, start a search. If those pieces of shit are showing themselves after so many millennia, it can’t be good. Find them. I want to know what the hell they wanted with her.” Dyletri’s tone leaves no room for arguments.

  Darkness calls to me, and my eyes slide closed. I think I hear Dyletri asking me to stay awake, but it’s futile. Whatever the hell this is, it isn’t just coming from my body.

  I’m exhausted down to the deepest part of my soul.

  CHAPTER 5

  -Enzyria. Upper level, medical wing.

  DYLETRI

  Vedlyl examined Ismini, but he refused to tell me what he suspects is wrong with her. He said he would monitor her and that he’d be back after he “looked into something”.

  I’ve done what Vedlyl requested—stayed in this fucking room and watched as hour after hour passed, my fist pressed against my mouth. Each second that ticks by seems to make her worse, and every time the girl whimpers, it feels as if something inside me breaks.

  Needing to get out for a few, I went to her apartment, intent on bringing back anything that’s important to her. I don’t know why I want her to have her things; I just do.

  Her memories cloud my mind. Every moment she’s lived, or endured, has been etched onto my brain. When I rematerialized into Ismini’s room in Enzyria and walked toward the bed, all I could do was stare at her.

  Five hours later, and Ismini is showing no signs of improving. I did everything I could to get her straight to Vedlyl, but even the God of Medicine hasn’t been able to cure her. Apparently she isn’t suffering from a normal human illness.

  No, shit.

  Had it been that, something normal, Vedlyl would have been able to reverse it. To heal Ismini. Instead, she’s still sweating profusely, her flesh bright red, and even to me, her skin is too hot when touched.

  I tell myself to keep it together and not fling the dresser against the nearest wall. The last thing Ismini needs is to be disturbed by a raving lunatic. But staying in this room and watching as her condition deteriorates is driving me batshit crazy.

  I don’t know her. Have no connection to her.

  I’m the male that’s going to end her life, and yet, seeing her like this is fucking killing me.

  Damn it, I’m confused.

  There’s no denying it. I’m sick with worry, and a part of me is beginning to feel as ill as she looks.

  I grind my teeth so hard it feels like one of them might crack. It’ll heal instantly, so that isn’t an issue. Realizing that I’m going crazy over this girl definitely is one.

  “Dyletri.”

  I stiffen before turning and catching sight of Nylicia. She’s standing outside on the balcony, beckoning me closer.

  “I don’t want to disturb her. She needs her rest.”

  I nod at her and join her outside, throwing one more glance over my shoulder. “What is happening to her?”

  “If it’s what I think it is, then I cannot tell you . . . yet.”

  Her reply infuriates me, and I narrow my eyes in her direction. “Then what’s happening to me?”

  Her face is stoic, not an ounce of emotion showing in her features. “Same answer.”

  “Damn it, Nylicia!”

  “You are worried,” she says, interrupting me. Her eyes travel over my face, warmth flickering behind them. It’s almost as if Nylicia is glad that I’m worried.

  Annoying little shit.

  The woman can try the patience of any being in the Universe. No doubt.

  “I’m not just worried. You know there’s more happening to me. And why are you here if not to help?”

  A breeze blows through her transparent form, lifting her long, dark bangs as if she were a solid entity. Her big eyes somehow get even bigger as she looks back at me. “Are those her things?”

  I shift uncomfortably, rubbing at the back of my neck.

  “Oh, Dy!” Nylicia claps her hands together.

  “Nylicia, shut it.”

  She murmurs unintelligible words, and her smile is almost frightening as she jumps from one foot to the other. She rubs her palms together, looking like some sort of mad scientist plotting a scheme.

  Forget that. This is Nylicia. The mad little scientist is definitely up to something.

  “Female, you will explain to me right now what is going on. Why am I having these symptoms?”

  She deflates, her shoulders falling as she stares up at me with a childishly forlorn expression. “They’re called feelings, Dy. I mean, really . . . Symptoms?”

  I growl at her, baring my teeth like an animal. A sound behind us makes me look over my shoulder.

  “I’d love to stick around and explain more to you. Really, I would. But Ismini is going to wake soon, and she needs you to talk to her, even though she probably—no, she definitely—won’t remember this conversation.”

  By the time I glance back, she’s already running down the length of the balcony, her skirt flowing around her legs.

  Odd. Most of the time, she just disappears from view.

  Gods help me, I’m never going to understand this female.

  “Oh!” Nylicia appears before me. “She’s going to need her friend here as her companion. The black-haired one. Another pretty little thing I named Evesse. Send Zeniel for her.” Then she runs from me again.

  She named the girl? “Why Zeniel?” I call out to her.

  “Because it has to be him. Don’t fuck with Destiny, my confused, little sex-addict in denial. Toodle-oo!”

  Sex-addict in denial? Who the fuck does she think she is?

  I seethe as I watch her wave over her shoulder. What I wouldn’t give to have her solid for a minute or two—so I can
wrap my fingers around her neck and squeeze down tight.

  Sighing, I make my way back into the room, pushing Nylicia from my mind and focusing solely on Ismini.

  Which, disturbingly, isn’t a hard thing to do. Not at all.

  I kneel down beside Ismini’s bed, careful not to disturb her. “Ismini?”

  She shifts toward me. Her skin is still an angry, sweltering red. She shows no signs of waking soon, and I wonder what she’s seeing behind her tightly closed eyelids.

  “What is wrong with you?” I whisper.

  Her brow furrows. “Dy-Dyletri?”

  Can she hear me? “Ismini, talk to me.”

  She whimpers, her little face scrunching up in agony. She tries to speak, but her voice comes out raspy and dry.

  “What do you need?” I lean closer, wondering if I should call Vedlyl.

  Ismini trembles. She curls into herself, and my chest fucking aches. Impotent rage claws at me, and in turn, I’m damn close to clawing at myself. Just as I’m about to call out for the God of Medicine, she speaks.

  “C—cold. So cold.”

  Cold? And her skin is abnormally hot to the touch. These are all the earmarks of a normal human fever. Yet Vedlyl keeps denying that it is one.

  “Ismini, what is it? Want me to get Vedlyl?” I stand, ready to go and find him.

  She reaches out, eyes still closed. Her delicate hand catches my attention. I watch as she seems to search for something.

  She wraps her hand around my wrist.

  I jerk back, about to pull my wrist out of her grasp, but Ismini’s breathing steadies. She sighs, and her hand tightens around me.

  My entire body ignites, and for a few seconds, all I hear is the violent pounding of blood rushing through me.

  “Please . . .” She pulls on my arm, trying to bring me closer. “More . . . you . . .”

  My eyes widen. Ismini groans, pulling my arm harder. What does she want from me? I notice the way her body shakes beneath the covers, and a sense of foreboding goes through me.

  Does she need body heat?

  My cock pulses at the mere idea of being pressed up against her.

  Shit, I want this luscious girl. Right now, she looks like the most delicious thing in the entire Universe to me.