As Addison squeezed by the embracing couple in the entryway, she lightly ran her hand over Luke’s lower back. Excitement ran through her as she felt his muscles tighten and then almost instantly relax into her touch. Damn, she was going to cause too much unwanted stress and conflict here. What the fuck am I doing?
Addison knew that Luke had heard that. As she took her hand from his back and hurried from the room, she caught sight of him pulling back from the kiss. A soft, masculine moan followed her down the hall.
She practically sprinted the rest of the way back to the bedroom she had awoken in just a little while ago. Her mind was a mess, a tornado of feelings and thoughts. She needed to get out of here. Addison needed to run from Brooklyn, but more importantly, run from Luke. She could see no positive outcome here.
Chapter Fifteen
Addison looked around the room. What was she looking for? She had the urge to pack, but then realized there was nothing of hers here. Nothing. Why did that word hurt when she saw it in her mind? She headed toward the door and reached for the doorknob. She didn’t really have a plan but to run. Where? It didn’t matter at this point.
Just as her hand gripped the metal knob, she froze, listening. Addison could hear the other two Revenants arguing. It sounded intense and a little frightening. The words were muffled from the wall and door, but she knew exactly what they were fighting about. Her.
Addison closed her eyes and concentrated on Luke’s mind. She didn’t want to push a thought or scene in this time. She wanted to pull a thought out. Addison let her mind go blank. It was actually easier than she would have expected. She held her breath, which she was learning wasn’t hard anymore.
The only thought or image in her mind was Luke’s face. Soon, it started to move. This wasn’t her image. This was his. Addison could sense his next sentence before it came from his mouth.
“I can’t, Brooklyn. You have to understand that.”
“What I fucking understand is that she has a damn crush on her savior. I want her gone, now!”
“That’s not the issue here.” Addison felt the lies running through Luke’s mind. Lies he was telling himself and lies he wanted to tell Brooklyn.
“You better make a fucking choice. Me or your pet.”
Addison broke the connection. She didn’t know if Luke could sense that she had entered his head or not. That did matter to her, but she couldn’t worry about it now. For everyone’s good, she needed to disappear. She didn’t belong here.
Addison turned away from the door and looked around the room. She found what she was looking for, an escape route. There was a small window on the far wall. It was just big enough for her to squeeze through. She walked over to it and looked out, hoping that she wasn’t too far off the ground.
The newbie vampire got good news when she looked out. The ground was not far from the window and there were full bushes waiting for her. Another bit of luck—when she tried the window, it swung open with ease. She carefully and quietly pushed the curtains to the side after fully opening the glass pane.
Addison made a conscious decision to block her thoughts and emotions. This, too, came easier to her than she would have expected. How do I even know how to do this? It didn’t matter how, just that she did. Addison mentally envisioned a brick wall surrounding her mind. She was pretty confident that it was working. The question was, could Luke sense the wall was up?
The former normal college girl lifted her right leg and hung it out the window. As she sat on the windowsill, she turned and looked at the closed door. An unwanted sigh of sadness came off her lips. With no further pauses, Addison ducked her head out the window and slid out onto the bushes.
As she tried to carefully climb off the shrubs, Addison gasped. A twig had grabbed her shirt, exposing part of her torso. A thick branch, devoid of leaves, scraped against her side as she moved. When her feet touched the ground, she pulled her shirt free from the bush and looked at her side.
There was a long, red stripe where the skin had been scraped but almost instantly, it faded back to the normal light-tan skin color. The echo of pain was still there, but no sign of it showed on her skin. Addison lightly ran a finger over her side. It wasn’t tender or tattered. Humf, Revenant.
She didn’t have time now to explore her new body and powers. Addison knew that it was only a matter of time before Luke felt the loss. He would feel her missing before he found the empty room. She was sure of it.
Addison turned from the house and started off. The sun was low in the sky now. It would be dusk soon. She started to run toward the thick forest. Her legs soon hit top speed. They were carrying her way faster than she had ever run before. She was actually scaring herself, so she slowed her pace some. That will take getting used to.
She headed deeper into the woods. There was no end destination in her mind. “Just run” was her only thought. Addison never looked back as the world started to darken around her.
* * * *
Luke couldn’t put his finger on it, but something was being pulled from him. It felt like a wisp of smoke being caressed out of his body. A ribbon being pulled from his mind. He shook his head and turned away from his angry girlfriend. Brooklyn was just staring at him with her arms crossed over her chest. Her glare would almost certainly kill a mere mortal. He almost snorted at the thought.
As he stood with an empty stare, Luke was trying to get a handle on the situation. He couldn’t explain the strong connection with the girl, Addison. Even just thinking her name made his mind shift, and also his cock. He hadn’t turned Brooklyn, so they had never had a strong mental association. An emotional one, yes, but not mind-bending, anyway. He did owe her a certain level of commitment and respect. She had been a big part of helping Luke and his twin, Gabe, shortly after they had “escaped.” Again, another story. He shook his head.
Brooklyn’s loud, huffed breath of frustration brought Luke back to the present. He turned back around to face her, but stopped short when his eyes ran over the bedroom door. Now he knew with clarity what that wisp of fading smoke was. Addison was gone. He didn’t need to open the door to know that she had run away. Why hadn’t he felt her absence earlier?
Chapter Sixteen
It was pitch-black as Addison stepped out of the forest. There was no moon tonight, too cloudy even if there was. She had run with no purpose for quite a while. The whole time, her mind was blank, but her eyes were full of tears. After what had seemed like hours, she had finally stopped running.
Standing under a tree, she had let the world disappear. Addison had almost convinced herself that she was normal, that nothing had happened since her car had stalled. She had finally decided that she wanted to get back to school. There was no way she wanted to be with her parents. Addison wanted to be in her apartment, alone. She wanted to find some normalcy.
Addison still didn’t know for sure where she was, but she could sense which direction she was heading. She didn’t know how much of that was from her newfound “being,” or if it was just being in the woods not far from her childhood home. Either way, she had a feeling if she just walked south, she would hit the highway. She had been right.
When she stepped out past the tree line and onto the gravel shoulder, she felt different. Addison felt like an alien. The highway looked both familiar and foreign. She looked in both directions and saw a mile marker. She was actually closer to school than where she had left her car.
Again, she didn’t really have a plan. Addison just started walking along the shoulder. Maybe someone would come to pick up a hitchhiker. Maybe she would just walk for hours. Maybe Luke would come to carry her home. That last thought crushed her spirit. Not because she hated the idea—quite the opposite.
She had only been walking a few minutes when headlights crested the hill behind her, lighting up the black highway. Maybe it was the fact that she had already been attacked just off this highway, but she didn’t hesitate even one second to turn and wave at the pickup truck.
Not an ounce of
fear ran through her as the truck neared. In fact, she felt like, if it didn’t stop, she would chase it down until it had no choice. The situation didn’t come to a chase, however. Addison shielded her eyes from the bright headlights as it crawled to a stop. She walked up to the passenger window that was already rolled down.
“Honey, what the hell are you doing out here? Do you need a lift?”
There was no need for Addison to squint. The dashboard glow was more than enough for her Revenant eyes to see the driver. He was probably in his early sixties, she guessed. On a different day, the creepy way he was looking her up and down would have been worrisome. Not today.
“My car broke down a ways back. I need to get back to the University. I’ll take a ride as far as you care to go in that direction.” She moved closer to the car, wrapping her fingers over the bottom of the open windowsill.
The older man smiled, but it wasn’t quite friendly. “You’re in luck. I’m on my way to Old Haven, so I’ll be going right past there. Hop in.”
* * * *
They had been driving for about a half an hour. Mostly, it had been awkward silence with just a few short bouts of small talk. Addison had learned the man’s name was Robert and that he was heading up to a construction job. She gathered from the absence of a wedding ring that he was most likely divorced.
Light oldies music came from the radio as Addison tried to stare straight ahead. This was only partly because of the disturbing, lust-filled looks he kept giving her. The other reason she didn’t want to look at Robert was that she could sense his pulse.
It was a very strange and powerful feeling to feel someone’s blood cursing through their veins. She could practically hear his heart beating. And even more disturbing to Addison, she wanted nothing more than to see the red liquid running, pooling.
“So, sweet, what’s your major?”
“What?” Addison wasn’t paying attention to his attempts to get closer to her, both in the conversation and in the truck. One hand was on the steering wheel, the other was sliding toward her on the bench seat.
“Your major. What are you studying?”
Just as he finished his question, his fingers lightly ran over her hand that was resting on the seat next to her thigh. The normal reaction from Addison would have been fear and shock. She probably would have pulled back and maybe have screamed. Instead, she slowly turned her gaze from the dark highway down to his hand, now covering hers.
A vision sprang up into her mind. It was blood dripping from the man’s fingers, coating her hand and then the seat. She looked up at the man and didn’t see what was really there. What she saw was Robert’s neck smeared with his own blood. She then focused on his eyes. They kept flicking from the road to her face.
Addison saw the whites of his eyes turn red. Then, great tears of blood started running from them. She never blinked while she spoke. Her tone was flat.
“Stop the car.”
“Hon, we’re still about ten minutes away.”
Addison’s tone never increased in volume or intensity. “Stop the fucking car.”
The man’s expression turned from predatory to troubled in an instant. Even though Addison still saw Robert in the imaginary way, blood-covered, she could still see his facial expression. He was getting irritated, some from her harsh language but also, probably some irritation at not having an easy victim.
Robert still complied. The truck slowed and eased off the blacktop. Addison knew that he wasn’t going to let this prime opportunity just slip through his fingers. How often does he get a young female in distress on a dark highway?
The older man put the truck in park and turned toward Addison. “Sweetie, you are obviously upset about something. I can’t just let you walk off into the night.”
Robert leaned closer to her and grabbed her thigh. He squeezed a little too harshly for the warm smile he wore. Addison’s eyes moved down from his eyes to his mouth. Even though she knew what she was seeing was all in her head, she was completely drawn to it. Slow trickles of blood came from the corners of his mouth. She licked her lips, thoughtlessly.
The man clearly was unaware why this young lady was licking her lips. She watched him perk up immediately. Luckily for them both, a passing semi-truck brought Addison back to reality. As the large truck barreled past them, it honked its loud horn. Addison blinked rapidly and her vision returned to “real life”.
She grabbed the man’s rogue hand and squeezed harshly. She watched the man’s mouth pop open while he winced. Addison then pulled his hand free from her leg and started to bend his fingers back.
“Oooww!”
Just before the fingers reached their breaking point, she hastily flung his hand toward him.
“What the fuck?” the man howled.
Is this little tulip stronger than you thought? Addison snorted under her breath. She watched as Robert used his unharmed hand to rub the injured one. His expression was surprise intertwined with annoyance.
“Thanks for the ride.”
Addison opened the car door and hopped out without looking back at the stranger.
“Bitch!” Robert called after her.
With her back still to the truck, she heard it start to peel off down the road. Soon she was left alone in the dark, although she could now see the faint glow of the nearby campus. Silently, Addison fell to her knees right there on the side of the highway. She stayed like that for some time, silent and kneeling in the sharp gravel.
Chapter Seventeen
Addison didn’t know how long she had stayed frozen on her knees. All she did know was that everything was totally fucked up. Those gory images that had seemed so real. She knew they weren’t. Did that mean she was still sane? Somehow, that thought didn’t comfort her at all. Would she slowly lose the ability to know real life from mind tricks?
The novice Revenant finally came up to her feet and started walking toward the glowing lights of her campus. Just behind her, the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon. She walked on in a trance-like state. The realization that she had wanted to drain that man of his lifeblood was a hard pill to swallow. She needed to get a handle on that, quick.
Luke was right. She would have to learn how to feed. Addison started to cry, then. How can I do this alone? She knew the answer was that she couldn’t. Addison did her best to push that truth as far down as she could. Her mentor had told her that Revenants only needed to feed about every two or three weeks. Maybe she could just wait it out. Then she would have to figure out a plan.
Another question popped into her head, though. What if that rule didn’t work for newly-turned Revenants? Addison huffed out a loud, frustrated breath as she picked up the pace. If she started to run at her new top speed, she should be at her apartment in no time. Right now, that was the only thing she wanted to think about.
Before she knew it, Addison was soon standing at her apartment door. Luckily for her, her keys were still in her jeans pocket, even after the attack and “adventure” she had been on. As she entered her apartment, a wave of familiarity washed over her. For the first time in days, Addison felt like herself.
Maybe this Revenant nonsense was just that, nonsense, a dream. Addison went into her bedroom, flopped onto her bed and slept.
* * * *
Addison had spent the past two days on self-inflicted lockdown. She hadn’t left her apartment for anything. When she had initially awoken on that first morning home, she quickly had to face the fact that it wasn’t a dream. She was different now. Addison had tried to make herself breakfast. She managed to eat two bites before her stomach cramped and clenched.
She never threw up, but Addison realized that her body no longer wanted “regular” food. The only thing in her fridge that looked halfway appealing was a pound of bacon she had. Even then, she suspected it was just the rawness that she was attracted to.
Finally, on her third day in isolation, she couldn’t handle her cabin fever. She was starting to go stir crazy. The only thing Addison had done th
ese last few days was sit and think. That was probably the worst thing for her right now.
She thought about Joe. She thought about Luke. She thought about Brooklyn and Gabe. Addison worried about her new life and how she was going to manage it. She also had so many question that she knew only Luke could answer.
“Fuck me. I’m doing it.”
Addison needed just a small pep talk. She turned off her radio and headed toward her apartment door. She had decided a while ago to just take a walk through campus, but it had taken her a while to get her courage together.
As she exited the apartment building, she noticed that the weather was cooler than it had been last time she was out. There was a nice, cool breeze and the sky was full of light gray clouds that looked like they would start dropping their rain loads at any time.
Addison didn’t really notice the faces of people as they walked by, but she did notice one important thing. There were no blood images. She didn’t know if this because she was mentally stronger now or what, but she was thankful. Thankful that no one around her was bleeding from their eyes.
“Addi!”
Addison froze in mid-stride. Joe. He was walking straight at her. It was too late to pretend that she hadn’t seen or heard him. She watched him coming closer. Joe looked happy but nervous to see her. Addison didn’t know really what she expected, but that wasn’t it.
“Hi, Joe.” Addison tried to pull every bit of emotion out of her voice.
Her ex-boyfriend came to a stop just in front of her. His face had turned expressionless and she tried to mirror it, but a cool breeze made that impossible. As the wind moved past her face, it brought Joe’s familiar smell. Addison’s eyes fluttered shut as a flood of memories came to her mind. The most prevalent one was her and Joe naked, hugging in his bed. That vision quickly morphed into one of her and Luke kissing in the kitchen.
Once Bitten, Twice Seduced [Revenants 1] (Siren Publishing Allure) Page 6