Theron rolled his eyes. “I turned you into a monster, and you’re still spouting philosophical bullshit,” he complained. “You should want to kill her.”
Kallias glanced uneasily at Rose. By this point, she’d managed to pull herself into a sitting position. She held her head in her hands. Watery blood flowed between her fingers, most likely pouring from her nose. The scent of that blood plagued his hunger. He’d struggled to resist it before, but now that he was injured so severely, he didn’t know if he would be able to fight it much longer.
“You and I are the same. You just refuse to see it,” Theron said.
“No,” Kallias argued. “Perhaps I crave the same things, but I resist.”
Theron shrugged. “I embrace what I am. It is better than being in denial.”
“I am not in denial,” Kallias said sadly. “I know that I’m a monster.”
Theron knelt in front of him. “Then feed,” he urged.
“No,” Kallias said sternly.
He shifted to make a weak attempt at climbing onto his uninjured leg, but before he could, Theron stood and stomped on that leg as well. The bone cracked loudly from the pressure, and then Theron pressed down harder to ensure that both legs were shattered. Kallias fell back against the wall, growling.
“You’ll die tonight. Surely you have realized that,” Theron said as he watched him. “Your legs are crushed, and the sun is rising soon. You will burn.”
“Then just go ahead and kill me,” Kallias rasped.
Theron knelt in front of him again, watching his pain with a sadistic smile. “That’s too easy. I’d rather let the sun kill you. It’ll be much more painful.”
“Fine,” Kallias sighed, feeling weak and defeated.
“Of course, there is one way that you could still survive,” Theron reminded him, smiling. “Those injuries would heal with just a tiny bit of blood. All you have to do is feed. If only there were a human nearby that you could eat. Oh, wait,” he taunted, turning his gaze toward Rose for emphasis, “there is!”
“No,” Kallias said worriedly. “Leave her alone. I don’t want her blood.”
“Liar!” Theron snarled. “You want her blood as much, if not more, than I do. I can see the hunger in your eyes. Just accept what you are, and kill her.”
“No,” Kallias said again. “I am nothing like you.”
Theron laughed, “I suppose I will just have to prove my point then.”
Kallias cursed under his breath as Theron stood and walked toward her. “Rose, you have to run! Now!” he yelled, even though he knew it was too late.
Rose glanced up as she heard his voice. Her head continued to spin from the impact of the wall, and her body felt too bruised and too weak to move. She tried to process what he’d said, but her mind was just too fuzzy. Theron snatched her up by her already bruised arm and dragged her over to Kallias. Before she could even understand what was happening, Theron tossed her on top of Kallias.
Kallias caught her arms before she could slam into him, lessening the impact of her fall. Her legs fell on either side of him, causing her to straddle his hips. Blood flowed from her nose and her neck, and their faces were too close.
Rose reached out to hold his arms as her head spun violently. “Kallias?”
The physical contact with her cause a wave of desire to course through his body, and that desire intensified his already overwhelming hunger. He stared at the blood on her face and neck. He needed to taste it. He needed to feed.
She watched as his brown eyes darkened hungrily. “Are you okay?”
His breath began to fall from his lips in a harsher rhythm, like the pant of a dog, and he shuddered at the painful waves of hunger twisting at his stomach.
“Run,” he breathed. He licked his lips involuntarily. “You have to run.”
“Kallias, what’s wrong?” she said worriedly. “Are you hurting?”
“Please. I don’t want to hurt you,” he pleaded. “Get away from me.”
“Why would you hurt me?” she asked softly.
He moved his face closer to hers as he stared at the dark, sticky blood that coated her neck. His mouth watered at the sweet, powerful scent of her fresh blood. He felt his lips part, as if of their own accord, as his body prepared to take her blood. Kallias felt his self-control slipping, but there was nothing he could do about it. He suddenly grasped the back of her neck and jerked her toward him. His mouth had nearly reached her neck before he managed to stop himself. Even so, he barely retained control of his hunger. He couldn’t bring himself to push her away. His breath fell harshly against her neck. She shivered at the sensation.
“What are you doing?” Rose asked breathlessly, frozen in shock.
“Please, Rose, you have to get away from me,” he panted in her ear.
Rose pulled back and frowned suspiciously at him, but she gasped the moment she saw how dark and feral his eyes looked. She decided to do as he asked, just this once. She attempted to stand, but before she could climb onto her bruised knees, Theron pressed his foot against her back. She winced at the pain as Theron pushed her back into Kallias’s lap. Kallias caught her again as her body fell flush against him. The shift caused their bodies to meet in all the wrong places.
He glanced down as her body pressed provocatively against his groin. “Well, that’s not going to help anything,” he muttered under his breath.
“Why is he doing this?” Rose hissed, her voice drawing his attention.
Kallias looked back at her, and with just one look at her worried blue eyes, he began to regain control of his hunger. “He’s trying to prove something.”
“Okay, then, what is he trying to prove?” she asked impatiently.
His gaze shifted back toward her neck. “It’s none of your business.”
Her bright blue eyes narrowed. “It clearly involves me somehow, so I would think that it is definitely my business. Tell me what is going on.”
Kallias groaned as she tried to shift into a more comfortable position. He reached out and grasped her hips to stop her. “Can you please be still?”
She froze as she realized why he was acting like that. Her cheeks flushed.
“I think I’ve proven my point,” Theron announced, smiling at Kallias.
Kallias scowled at him. “You’ve proven nothing, except that I want it, which I already admitted. But I would die before I ever acted on the urge.”
Rose frowned at them, confused by their conversation.
“Pity,” Theron said. “I’m sure she would prefer you do it, instead of me.”
Rose gasped as Theron grabbed her arm and snatched her off of Kallias. He moved his mouth to her neck as he traced his finger through the blood oozing down her shoulder. Rose cringed and tried to push away from him. She froze as she felt his fangs press against her neck again. Then, suddenly, Theron laughed.
He threw her on the ground, promising, “Tomorrow.” He turned his attention back to Kallias. “Right now, I need to take shelter before the sun rises.”
Theron returned to Kallias and knelt in front of him. He swiftly shoved the dagger into his stomach and then twisted it, smiling as Kallias yelped in pain.
“Just returning your dagger,” Theron sneered.
Answers
Theron moved so quickly that he seemed to disappear into the darkness. Rose pulled herself up onto her hands and knees, blinking in shock as she saw the metal handle of the dagger protruding from Kallias’s abdomen. With a grunt, he winced and jerked the dagger out of his stomach. Blood poured through his fingers as he clutched the wound. Rose covered her mouth in horror.
She scrambled to her feet and ran over to him, falling to her knees in front of him. She gasped at the profuse amount of blood pouring from the wound. Instinctually, she reached toward him, her fingers nearly brushing his blood-soaked T-shirt, before he caught her wrist with his blood-coated hand.
“Don’t touch it,” he rasped. His eyes darkened as they met hers.
“Right. Of course,” Ro
se said, shaking her head. “I’m sorry.”
He let go of her wrist and pressed his palm against the wound, as if he could stop the bleeding with just his hand. His hand left a thick handprint of blood around her wrist. His face contorted with pain as he clutched his stomach.
“It’s so much blood,” she whispered, her heart racing with fear.
His dark, feral gaze swept over her. “You’re one to talk.”
Rose glanced down at her tattered, bloody clothing. Blood stained the blue T-shirt, and the tear down the middle of her shirt revealed a red bloodstain that trailed from her neck to her breasts. She blushed and pulled her shirt closed.
He continued to stare at her, overwhelmed by the urge to feed. His injuries intensified his hunger. He needed blood in order to heal, and his body knew that. His body also knew that a source of powerful blood currently knelt in front of him, easily within his grasp. His mouth watered at the sight of her blood.
“You need a hospital,” Rose said. “Give me your phone. I’ll call 911.”
“I don’t need a hospital,” Kallias said, his voice strangely calm.
She sighed, “Look, I get it. I hate hospitals, too, but this isn’t just a scratch. This is serious, Kallias. You need medical attention. You could die.”
“I don’t need a doctor,” he insisted.
She stared at him blankly. “There’s a gaping hole in your stomach, in case you haven’t noticed!” she snapped. “Am I supposed to just sit here while you die?”
“No,” he said. He shifted, wincing in pain as he moved, and shoved his hand in his pocket. He pulled out his phone, now coated with a thick layer of blood and typed something into the screen. “You’re supposed to leave.”
“Excuse me?” she said, frowning. “What is that supposed to mean?”
He shifted again. Rose winced sympathetically at the pain that showed in his expression each time he moved. He pulled a thin, leather wallet out of his pocket and tossed it on the pavement in front of her. “There’s several hundred dollars of cash in there. Take that, and get out of town. Find a hotel and stay there. Don’t give them your name. Then, call Erik, and tell him to come get you.”
She blinked, confused. “Erik? Your friend? Why would I call him?”
“Erik is the only person I have ever come close to trusting. He will help you,” he said, his voice strained. “You will need his help if you want to survive.”
“Are you planning on going somewhere?” she sputtered.
He sighed, “I will be dead by sunrise. You need to be gone before then.”
She froze, her skin paling. “Why would you be dead by sunrise?”
Kallias stared at her for a moment, debating how much he should tell her. In any other circumstance, he would have lied, but he figured she would know soon enough anyway. Slowly, he reached out and took her hand again.
Rose frowned nervously as he led her hand toward his mouth. Without breaking eye contact with her, he took her index finger and gently pressed it against one of his canine teeth. Well…she’d assumed it was a canine tooth anyway.
She gasped as he pressed her fingertip to the abnormally long and incredibly sharp tooth, so sharp, in fact, that the point pricked her fingertip the minute her finger brushed against it. She jerked her hand away, watching in horror as the blood surfaced on her fingertip. She glanced back at Kallias, her eyes wide.
She watched with cold dread as he closed his eyes, as if savoring that small drop of blood that he had tasted from her finger. She leaned forward, and his eyes snapped open, watching her warily, as she reached out toward him.
She pried his lips open, needing to see the teeth, and with a sigh, he reluctantly opened his mouth for her. Rose gasped as she saw his fangs.
Kallias pulled back and closed his mouth, watching as she grew pale.
“You’re a… You’re a…” she trailed off, shaking her head in disbelief.
“Vampire,” he provided. “Yes, I am a vampire, just like Theron.”
She continued to shake her head, almost as if it were a subconscious action. “No, no, no, you can’t be. You saved my life. That doesn’t make sense.”
“But it does make sense,” he argued. “And deep down, you already knew.”
Rose scowled at him, confused by the accusation. “No, I didn’t.”
“You suspected,” he insisted. “You asked all the right questions. How did I know about vampires? How did I know Theron? How was I able to fight Theron if human police couldn’t even take him on? Why did I behave so strangely every time that you started bleeding? Why did I do other strange things?”
“Like sniffing me?” she suggested with an irritated scowl.
He winced, obviously still embarrassed about that. “An animalistic urge. Vampires are more animal than human. Sometimes that fact is difficult to hide.”
“You lied to me,” Rose said angrily.
“And you believed me,” Kallias said, “because you wanted to believe me.”
“When Theron threw me onto you,” she said, “you grabbed me and…”
“Yes,” he interrupted, answering her question before she even asked it. “I nearly bit you. I was injured and hungry, and you were bleeding. And you smelled amazing.” As he spoke, his voice dropped lower, becoming breathless and husky. He leaned closer to her, and growled, “I still want to bite you.”
She pulled back in shock. “You do?” she asked worriedly.
He tilted his head to the side as he studied her, and she realized, not for the first time, that he moved like a predator, that he watched her as if she were his prey. “It wasn’t the first time either. That first night that Theron attacked you, when you passed out in my arms, you were bleeding, and I wasn’t prepared.”
“But you didn’t bite me,” she assumed. “Right?”
“Of course not,” Kallias muttered. “I told you. I don’t want to hurt you.”
Rose nodded, relieved to know that, at least. She sighed and glanced up at the sky. The previously black sky looked navy blue now. She looked back at him and bit her lip nervously. “So, sunlight does kill vampires? I mean, it kills you?”
“We’re creatures of darkness. We’re not meant to walk in light,” he said.
She swallowed nervously. “Do you just dissolve, or do you burn, or…”
“We burn,” he said before she could finish. “It’s not pretty. It is slow and painful. Trust me when I say you won’t want to be here when it happens.”
“How long until sunrise?” Rose asked with the same unreadable voice.
“Thirteen minutes,” Kallias answered without even looking at his phone.
Rose frowned at him. “How do you know that?” She sighed, “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. Just tell me what I need to do in order to save you.”
Kallias blinked in shock. “What?” he sputtered.
“I thought vampires had sensitive hearing or something,” she grumbled.
“Rose,” he said. He leaned toward her, wincing in pain as he moved. “I just told you that I am a vampire…a monster…who has almost bitten you on multiple occasions, and you want to save me? Are you completely insane?”
She shrugged. “I am a human, but you saved me.”
“It’s different. Monsters are evil. Humans are not,” Kallias muttered.
She laughed bitterly. “I can think of quite a few humans that prove that argument wrong. What you are doesn’t make you good or evil. Your choices do.”
“My kind have always been considered evil,” he argued.
“Considered?” she scoffed. “I have never let anyone tell me what to think, and I’m not about to start now. I will decide for myself what to think of you.”
He frowned at her, surprised. “It doesn’t matter anyway. There is no way to save me. I don’t have time to find somewhere to take shelter before sunrise.”
“Shelter,” she repeated. “So, you would be safe if you were inside? There are stores all along this street. You could stay in one of those during th
e day.”
He sighed, “Do you honestly think I could just hang out in a store all day? I’m pretty sure any sane store owner or worker will call the cops the moment they see a large man sleeping in their floor and bleeding all over the place.”
“Right,” she sighed. “Where do you usually stay during the day?”
“I have been staying in a hotel room,” he answered, “but I don’t have enough time left to make it back to the hotel before the sun rises.”
She frowned. “Hotel rooms have windows.”
“One or two, usually,” Kallias agreed. “But I cover them.”
“So, windows are okay if they’re covered,” Rose realized.
“As long as they’re covered well enough,” he confirmed.
“What about my apartment? Is it close enough?” she asked hopefully.
“No,” he said, “nor is it a safe option. Theron could be there right now.”
“But you’re a vampire. You can move really fast, right?” she asked.
“If I were not injured, yes,” he sighed, “but in my current state, no.”
“Okay,” she said. “Then how far do you think you can get?”
Kallias shrugged. “A few blocks, at most.”
She cast a thoughtful glance down the alley, toward the wide, well-lit street. “There’s an abandoned warehouse about a block from here,” she told him suddenly. “It’s been boarded up since before I moved here four years ago. But I don’t know if we will be able to get inside. The doors are locked up with chains.”
He laughed at her concern. “Chains won’t be a problem.”
Rose sighed and climbed to her feet. She held out her hand and smiled cutely at him. “Come on, then. Let’s get you inside before you get all crispy.”
He grimaced at the thought. “That’s not funny,” he complained.
Kallias braced his hands against the wall and pulled himself up onto his injured legs. He wobbled and fell back against the wall, groaning in pain.
The Stone of the Eklektos Page 24