“You seriously thought I wouldn’t find out what you’ve been doing. Those new bloods can’t stop me.” Adrien clutches and shakes Laurie’s scruff, repeatedly beating him with his fist.
Dom cuts Sara down and she drops limply into his arms.
“Well, you are early,” Laurie replies, only to receive another blow. “And perhaps I underestimated you. Girls will do that to you.” He snickers.
“You were my fuckin friend. And Connor... why?” He punches Laurie over and over. “I’ve stood by you all these years. Turned a blind eye and fixed things when you’ve screwed up. You tainted that blood in Manchester, and watched me sorting out your mess. Why, so you can take my place, because you think you’re more worthy than me!”
Laurie nods his head slowly left to right, laughing scornfully. “Ha, the most notorious executive has no clue what’s been happening under his very nose.” He spits the blood from his mouth at Adrien’s feet. “All those years, you have only done what suits you. You forgot you were the one who had us all turned,” he says. “Things are changing and the order is finished. And you, along with Miss Lovell, have set the wheels in motion.”
“So, this is about what we are and the order? You swore your allegiance to them, and to me. I didn’t fuckin make you drink Selene’s blood,” Adrien yells. “And as for our mission, jeez Laurie, I was your commanding officer, and I had orders from above. You would have done the same dammit!” Adrien shakes Laurie as his eyes blacken and his fangs bulge. “You’ve had nearly a century to confide in me, but instead you murder, and take the one good thing that has ever happened to me. I treated you like a fuckin Brother!”
“And here he is, Lieutenant Knight. Still thinking of himself as a glorified officer,” Laurie proclaims. “Oh, I see you haven’t brought your prized blade with you, sir.” He sniggers in-between Adrien’s violent blows. “You’ve given me orders for far too long.” He suddenly stabs Adrien above the hip with the ditail ring.
I scramble across the room as Adrien stops his attack, winded. Dom holds me back and begins to drag me to the door, pulling on Sara’s hand. But both Sara and I refuse to move.
Laurie picks up a sword from behind an old chest of drawers. The evil bastard has prepared for this.
Adrien straightens up and they both circle each other. Laurie swishes the sword in a circular motion, then slices across Adrien’s arm.
“Shame, I remember how good you once were with a blade. You’ve let yourself go,” Laurie taunts. “Look, I don’t want to kill you my friend. I want you to see the future I’m going to help make for our kind.”
“You have no future.”
Adrien flits right behind Laurie, locking his elbow around his throat. Laurie turns, also using his flitting ability to get free. They both scuffle around the floor, matching strike for strike as the sword clatters around the floorboards. I struggle to see as the black haze of their bodies crashes fiercely around the room.
There’s a second of stillness. I jump closer to the blade, but I’m too late, Laurie has it in his hand. He flicks and cuts deep across the side of Adrien’s neck.
Adrien teeters, trying to keep upright with his hand pressed firmly on the deep gash. His blood seeps through each finger and he breathes out with a growl and rattle. I cry into my hands as his eyes fill with pain.
“Adrien!” Dom hollers as Ben races in to the room.
“Now see, look what you made me do,” Laurie grumbles, swinging the blood coated blade out to slice across Adrien’s chest.
Adrien gazes hopelessly at me. He has this look on his face; a despairing goodbye that petrifies me. He binds his arms securely around Laurie as Dom and Ben run to his aid. But no one can equal Adrien’s speed, and suddenly he leaps through the second story window, taking Laurie with him.
I run. Everything has stopped moving apart from me. My feet don’t even touch the surface as I bound down the stairs in flight.
Large fragments of glass cut my feet as I charge over the wet dirt. But it doesn’t hurt. I’m frozen to all pain now. All that matters is Adrien.
I sprint toward his body. He’s only a few feet away from Laurie, cast on his side. I get as far as Laurie’s hip, when I’m unexpectedly slashed across the forearm by the sword. But I don’t stop moving. Not even Laurie can harm me now.
I slide down onto my knees by Adrien’s body. My bloody hands stain the white t-shirt under his hoodie as I roll him over onto his back. Again the sword appears, this time in front of my face, and instantly plunges right down into Adrien’s chest before I, Dom, or Ben can stop it.
“No!” I scream ferociously.
“I didn’t want to do that.” Laurie staggers behind me. “He was good stock.”
I cry into the night, and acquire the strength to push a wounded Laurie toward the angry circle of vampires.
I block out the sound of Laurie being beaten, sobbing over Adrien’s bleeding body. I hover my fingers over his face, while holding the artery that’s spitting out his watery blood everywhere.
I hear my muffled name being called over and over. I look ahead to see Nathan yelling at me in Adrien’s Land Rover, kicking at the door. I blink slowly at him. He knows exactly what’s going through my mind right now. It’s the only way to bring Adrien back. I will not let him die.
“Adrien... Adrien, wake up,” I plead, frantically. “You need to heal... now. Shit, Adrien!” He’s non-responsive.
I look at the handle of the blade and it is clear what I must do. I wrap my fingers around the handle of the sword, stand, and pull it out from his body. He makes no sound, no movement in pain, nothing.
I drop down onto my knees by his face, using my thumb to push down on his chin so his mouth widens. I squeeze the blood from my wounded forearm into his mouth, but there isn’t enough.
The sword lies on the ground next to me. I lift it up, hearing Nathan banging on the car door, shouting at me to stop. But I stay focused. I have to bring him back.
I pierce my wrist further down, cutting from the base of my thumb right across. Whether it’s the cold air anesthetising me, or shock, I feel nothing at all.
The cut is deep and now my blood pours. I coil my hand around his neck and elevate his head, so his lips are pressing on my wrist.
“Please Adrien, wake up.”
His eyes flicker open on me. “No... no,” he groans. “I won’t. Leave me Elizabeth,” he pleads, trying to squirm away from my blood.
“Never,” I weep. “You have to take this.”
Moaning, he parts his lips a little, allowing my blood to drop over his teeth and into his mouth. Abruptly he twitches and jolts upright with eyes of black, sealing his lips around my skin fully. He drinks me hard, clasping below my elbow with one hand, and the other caressing my tingling fingertips. I watch the deep blue veins beneath his skin pulsing, taking in the healing properties of my blood. God, this is a surreal sensation. It doesn’t hurt. It’s a pure unearthly feeling, almost primitive. We’re alone, and nothing can break through this moment of strange peace we’re in.
My head is heavy; heavy but warm and content. I sigh loudly as he slows consuming me. I close my eyes. I’m weary, comfortable, and feel safe enough to sleep now. His lips leave my bloody slick skin. He can hold me now and tell me everything will be okay. I sway and collapse against his chest.
“No!” he roars as I drift away in his arms. “Help me!”
I smile up at him. “We’re... we’re okay.” I let myself float away in the darkness.
Chapter 37
Adrien
“The clean-up’s done boss,” Dom announces, as I linger in a vacant state in Sara’s kitchen.
I don’t care what’s going on out there on the streets anymore. I don’t really care for much at the moment. I’m lost just like I was below that mountain, chained up in the dark like an animal, having no idea what would happen.
“Boss, she’s going to be okay,” he tries to assure me.
“Leave me Dom.” I bite down, listening to him lea
ve.
Call me impatient, but the longer she remains asleep, the more tempted I am to give her my bite. Four days she’s been here at Sara’s house with wires coming out from her skin. Four days I’ve sat in the corner of that room, watching her, all while I’ve had to deal with Laurie’s extradition to Prague, Nathan, and the grief of losing Connor. I put her in that bed, and I’m responsible for bringing her back one way or another. But I can’t, because taking her life from her would truly end me.
She was so stupid to do that for me. I could have made it without her blood. Knowing that she would do such a thing, to put herself at risk like that, infuriates me. I love her, but now I realise she will always be vulnerable because of me.
“Adrien, get out here now,” Leanna’s tense voice echoes through the house.
I flit into Sara’s dining room, with the hope and expectation of seeing Elizabeth awake. But no, this is about Nathan. Again.
“What is it now?”
“He’s refusing to come to Paris,” Leanna says as Nathan’s bloodshot eyes hit me with hatred. “He’s nearly ready, but I can’t make him go anywhere.”
“Give us a minute, Leanna.” My eyes remain on his, as Leanna walks by me.
At first he was compliant. It was just a case of making sure his awakening was under control with blood. Now he’s changing from new blood to vigore, his rationality is returning. He above all knows I’m to blame, and he was right. But still I won’t put up with his self-righteous interfering attitude.
“Feeling better?” I ask, watching him lean back in the mahogany chair.
“Is Liz?”
Fuckin asshole. “She’ll wake up, soon.”
“So you think you can just send me off to Paris? I can do what I god damn well want. And I’m not...” His body suddenly curls over and he hits his head hard with his hand.
“You’re still awakening, Nathan. Feel like going out there hunting for blood? It will not go away. You need to train yourself, and the best place to do that is with Leanna and Gerrard.”
“Out of your way so you can put Liz in danger again.”
I press my hands down on the table and arch over. “I didn’t want any of this to happen.”
“Oh come on. You are the big cheese here. Any girl you get involved with is dead before the first kiss!”
I slam my hand down on the table. He’s pushing all the right buttons. But as he again flings his body over in pain, I know now is not the right time to take my frustration out on him. I have to be tactful with him.
“Nathan, what do you think will happen if I let you walk out of here? Do you think you can just return to your old life?”
“I’m not one of your ass-kissing minions,” he hisses through his teeth. “You can’t tell me what to do!”
“Do you want to kill those you love?”
“Fuck-off!”
“Your family. Your friends. Elizabeth.” Great, he’s crying again. I do feel for him. He didn’t do anything other than care for Elizabeth. “Nathan, listen to me. Once you have a grasp on what you are, then you can return. You can work, have friends, screw who you please. But you walk out of that door now, then you’ll only leave a trail of blood behind you.”
He rubs his eyes with his thumb and finger, sniffing. “And Liz?”
“When she wakes, you can see her before you go.”
“So I am taking orders from you then?”
“No Nathan.”
The dining room doors open and Sara enters, carrying a box of medical supplies for Elizabeth. She lifts a blood bag out and slides it across the table toward Nathan. I notice the concern in Sara’s eyes as she watches him feed. But she quickly shakes it off, aware that I’ve noticed she has developed a deep care for his wellbeing.
“I’m going to need your help with this,” she says, walking to the staircase.
I CLOSE THE DOOR TO the bedroom as Sara sets the box down on the dressing table. I get the same feeling each time I’m near her. Guilt. She looks like an angel, peaceful, beautiful, and warm. The only thing that makes being in this room bearable, is seeing her chest rise up and down, breathing in life.
I take the empty blood bag off the drip stand and replace it with a fresh, as Sara combs Elizabeth’s hair.
“Are you okay?” Sara asks. “I’ve not asked you, because I knew you weren’t ready to answer.”
“And you think I’m ready now?” I brush my fingers over Elizabeth’s warm hand, as I go to my faithful chair in the corner.
“We need to think about the next step,” Sara says as I sit down. “It’s not too late.”
I know what she’s going to suggest, and I’m not going to listen. Not yet. I have to give Elizabeth more time to find her way back to me, even though every minute watching her, is a minute her soul grows closer to death.
Chapter 38
Elizabeth
There’s hot pale sand beneath my bare feet, and the heat of the sun rays warm my skin. Nothing can beat this: sun, sea, and sand. With a JD and ice in one hand, and a woo-woo cocktail in the other, I make my way across the beach, back to the two sun loungers beneath a large bowed palm tree.
I’m wearing a deep red bikini. I wouldn’t normally wear something so revealing. But hell, if by some miracle, my body has toned up real good. I’m not meaning to blow my own trumpet, but I look great. Like I’ve been physically airbrushed in my sleep.
I can’t remember getting here. I’m not even sure where I am. I’m thinking that maybe Adrien owns this tropical private beach. There isn’t a soul here, just the two beds overlooking the calm waves sweeping up against the shore.
I stand beside my lounger to see that Adrien has gone. He must have gone back to the car; if we came by car that is. I fall into thought. I must have had a lot to drink last night and it’s killed off some memory cells, because I can’t recall a thing, other than the here and now.
The soft sand goes in-between my toes as I sit down, taking a sip of my refreshing cocktail. I pop my glass in the cup holder, swing my legs up on the brown padded cushion, and shimmy into a comfortable spot.
As I lie back I slip in my earphones, closing my eyes while moving my foot to the dubstep beat. I sigh out a relaxed breath, contemplating whether to have a short powernap. I know Adrien has to avoid the sun, and is spoiling me with this holiday. I guess that’s why I’m now bathing in the shade alone. He probably needed a break from it for a while.
I exhale as a heavy wet drip unexpectedly lands inside my belly button. Goddamn rain. Only I would bring the rain to a tropical location.
I pull the earphone out from my right ear to take a peek, and see a shadowy figure standing at the foot of my lounger.
“Adrien?” I peel open both eyelids and squint up in the sun.
“Oh shit.” My heart stops and starts with a jolt as I fall off the bed.
I try to shout for Adrien, but not a sound comes from my mouth. I’m completely mute. Laurie stands within an arms-reach, his face full of oozing blisters. He has Adrien’s decapitated head in his hands. It wasn’t rain that fell on me, it was blood. Adrien’s blood. Silently screaming, I sink with each movement into the sand as I scramble backward.
“Elizabeth, what’s wrong,” Laurie speaks, but it’s Adrien’s voice coming from his mouth.
I pant in and out deeply with my lips agape as he steps closer to me.
“Elizabeth.” He drops Adrien’s head onto my lounger. “Wake up now.”
I’m dreaming, I think. Shit. This has to be some screwed up delirious nightmare.
Laurie holds his hands out to me, laced with Adrien’s blood. I squeal, sealing my eyes tightly in fear.
“Elizabeth,” a distant voice echoes through the sky. “I don’t know if this will work anymore Adrien. She’s lost a lot of blood.” It’s Sara, I’m sure of it, like some strange angel voice in another realm.
“Just do what you can, Sara,” Adrien’s voice carries in the wind.
I groan and fidget awkwardly. The summer breeze has suddenly b
een replaced by a cooler temperature, and I feel a soft cotton sheet over my feet. Queasiness surges up through my gut, and my mouth is as dry as the sand I was trying to escape from. I blink, seeing a dim light beside me. I blink again, this time forcing my lids to remain open. If I drift away, I might end up back on that beach. I have to wake up.
Using my hands, I hoist my sensitive body upright to see wires emerging from each of my arms. Hospital drips. But which hospital is this? I have my own room, which is very spacious. And the deco is something you’d find in a luxury hotel. All neutral shades with subtle opulent fabrics. This most definitely isn’t the standard national health facility.
I study the drip stands to each side of me, both transfusing blood into my veins. Did Adrien turn me? Is this a way of feeding me so I don’t go stark raving mad? But then I see the cut on my wrist and hand all bandaged up. If I were now a vampire, they would have healed.
There’s a slight shuffling noise ahead of me. I squint into the dark corner to see Adrien’s shadow slumped right back, with his head against his hand.
“Adrien,” I croak.
He shifts to the edge of the chair so I can see him clearly. He’s wearing a blue V-neck sweater with grey trousers. I smile with emotion. I’m so glad to see him. So much so I become teary. I wait for him to say something or smile back, but he doesn’t. He’s unshaven and very despondent.
“Adrien,” I call again. “Where am I?”
“You’re at Sara’s house,” he utters in a low tone.
“Oh... Laurie?”
“He’s been dealt with accordingly.” His tone is very off with me.
“By you?”
“Yes Elizabeth, by me. He will answer for what he has done.”
“So...” I pause as a tight tension wraps around my throat. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“And Nathan?”
“He’s fine. For now.”
I clasp my hands over the white cotton sheet covering my lap. He’s really mad with me for some reason. I’m so confused and apprehensive, that I can’t look at him for more than a second.
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